Chapter Text
Grian sighed looking over the world he and the other hermits have created. He sees all the beautiful builds around the boatem hole that he has created with his friends. All the good memories they created together and all the ones to come.
His wings were still bound under his sweater. Even after forming strong bonds with the other hermits he just could not reveal what he really is. He himself was disgusted with what They turned him into. At least he could shapeshift to make the wings smaller. It makes binding them a lot easier and more comfortable. It's still uncomfortable but at least he could deal with it. He also didn't preen them as often as he maybe should. But who would want to take care of something they hate, even if it is part of themselves.
Grian felt his wings itch, pulling him out of his thoughts. He should probably preen them to the best of his ability. Its been way too long since he has. He heads into his base and into a hidden room he made for this reason. The room was made for preening and making sure no one saw what he was doing. Most importantly keeping everyone from knowing what he was. They would definitely kick him out if they knew.
Once in the room he took off his red sweater and carefully removes the binds. The wings flutter involuntarily at their newfound freedom. He shapeshifts them to be bigger and easier for him to preen by himself. They are beautiful if you could ignore how he got them. The black and purple feathers that sometimes seemed to glow. It was a sight to behold. Too bad he would never be able to show them off. Not with the reputation these have attached to them. Surely they would all know what he is as soon as they see his wings.
He still remembers the day they took him. He was an admin back then. Running a kind of server that no one had heard of before. Travelling through updates was certainly a unique idea. He never could've guessed what would happen to him.
He never found out what happened to the other members of his little server. For all he knows they have been killed by them. That is what They told him anyways, but they were not trustworthy. He still has no reason to believe they didn't. It seems like something they would do. Just to get their entertainment and forget that ever happened.
The day he got his wings were painful. At least he passed out quickly so he didn't have to go through all that consciously. Still it ended up having something permanently attached to his body. Not even mentioning what they had done to his code. He would never be able to change back. They had made sure of that. He was stuck in this watcher body of his.
Once he had a bad episode of pure panic. He tried to cut off his wings with his sword. That did not work out well. He respawned after bleeding out in this very preening room. Sadly still with wings attached. It wouldn't have been so bad if he lost his wings that day. He at least knows he cant get rid of them like that.
Grian was also getting worried about some urges he began to have. He was a prankster sure, but the need for a bit of chaos scared him. He sometimes could ignore that just fine. A bigger issue was that he wanted to watch people. Nothing too invasive, just what his friends were up to. Just preferably without them knowing. He took to visiting them more often instead. It quieted the voice in the back of his mind enough. It shouldn't be too much of an issue.
The real problem was the pent up energy he felt. But the problem was that nothing he did got rid of that excess energy. He ran around, build and fought massive mob hordes. Nothing seemed to help.
He had a suspicion that it might have to do with his powers. But he doesn't want to use them at all. The admin Xisuma will definitely know something is up if he does. That is the last thing Grian wants. Besides the last time Grian used his power was to escape. He does not need to have a flashback to that moment.
So he will just have extra energy till he finds out how to deal with it. That should not be too hard since he ignored it well enough till now. A bit longer shouldn't hurt. Maybe he could go into a singleplayer world for a bit of release. He might try that if this becomes even worse then it already is.
He finishes preening and looks at his communicator. He sees that there was a message. A reminder that he, Scar and Mumbo were going to hang out at Scars base. He had totally forgotten about it because thinking about Them had taken over his mind recently.
After shapeshifting he debated if he should bind them. The sweater he got was extremely loose so you should not be able to see them. It would definitely be more comfortable and surely no one would notice. Dropping the bindings he would usually wear he headed to boatem for the meeting.
The hermits will never find out.