Chapter Text
Xisuma had finally finished setting up the portal to their next world and all the hermits were very excited to get started on a blank canvas, already chattering about their ideas and builds that they wanted to work on.
He was making sure all the hermits were accounted for as he got them ready to move through the portal.
“Alright everyone!” He says as the hermits quiet down, “Now if we're all ready, let's go through the portal, as usual I'll go through after you all to ensure everyone is through before I close the world and archive it. I do not know what happens if a player gets stuck in an archived world, and I'd rather not find out.” He says, giving a teasing look to some of the hermits who were known for their experiments and silly games.
The hermits laugh at his words looking around at one another as they go through the portal. Once they are all through he officially put the world to the archives and went through the portal himself, closing the portal and the previous chapter as he went through.
As he got to the new world he was surprised to see the hermits huddled around, usually they would scatter off immediately, excited to get started. Something was definitely off. As he began to walk over Ren saw him and ran over.
“Xisuma! Dude we all walked out of the portal and bam! There's a little guy laying here injured! Doc and Stress are looking him over now but none of us really know what to do about it.”
To say Xisuma was shocked would be an understatement. He rushed over to them concerned, “What happened?” He said seeing the two of them looking over the person laying there. He had a red sweater and dirty blond hair. He had a few bruises on him as well as a small cut on his forehead.
Doc looked up at him to answer his question, “Well to be honest we're not entirely sure. We walked through the portal and saw him here looking like he crash landed. What with the few bruises and such. He looks fine other than that but we don't know how he got here.”
“Thanks Doc. Alright everyone we've got this situation handled, you can go off and start your journey this season and I'll let you all know what happens here later.”
They all say variations of ok and goodbye and they head off, only Doc, Stress, and surprisingly Scar staying behind. The latter of the three getting a confused look from their admin.
Scar, taking that as an invitation, started to speak, “Are we going to keep him? He's rather cute! And I may be interested in him, he seems like he has a story and I'd like to figure him out.”
Xisuma lets out an exasperated sigh, “First of all, he's not a random cat, or some mystery novel. We cannot just ‘keep him’. Second, I don't know. I'm not opposed to him sticking around if he's nice, but I'm going to have to have a conversation with him before anything else is decided. I know none of you guys would care if we got someone new.” He stairs contemplating his next steps when the kid in the red sweater starts stirring awake.
Xisuma kneels down looking at him, motioning for the others to back up a bit. They follow his movement as the kid opens his eyes and gets a shocked look on his face before stealing his expression. Despite no one seeing, he raises an eyebrow at his reaction.
“Hello there, I'm Xisuma, the admin of this server. These people around us are Doc, Stress, and Scar. Them as well as some other members found you unconscious.” He fills the kid in before continuing, “Do you know where you are or how you got here? I would also like to know if you feel alright considering some of your injuries. And if you're comfortable could we have your name?”
Xisuma knows his questions may be a bit much considering the situation, but there is not much he can do but ask and hope he doesn't get too overwhelmed. Although if he is overwhelmed he's hiding It pretty darn well. He wonders for only a slight moment if that's a mask and how long he's been forced to need one if it's as good as it seems.
The kid sits up straight thinking about an answer before speaking, “Well, first things first I guess..” he trails off slightly as if trying to gain his composure but not showing it, “My name is Grian. I don't know where this is or what server I'm on, and I don't know how I got here. Oh and I guess my ‘injuries’ are fine. Doesn't really hurt or anything, ‘s just a few bruises right? Nothing I can't handle, I'm sure.”
Xisuma smiles at him slightly behind his helmet. “Alright you mother hens, You heard him, he's alright. You can go and start the season now. Although I do have a couple more questions, Is that alright with you?” He asked him, getting an ‘yeah that's fine.’ in response.
Doc said a quick goodbye as he went to start his season, and Scar told the new guy to come visit him sometime to chat before running off.
Stress waited for them before speaking, “Well Grian, it was nice meeting you! If you need anything from us hermits just let us know and we'd be glad to help! See you around, friend. She said with a bright smile before flying off.
“Well, in any case I have a few questions and things to tell you since I'm sure you're confused. For starters, this is Hermitcraft! We're a server based on community, and we're all pretty close and friendly as I'm sure you could see. Even if they are a bit chaotic at times,” he laughs slightly, standing before reaching a hand out to Grian helping him up as they started walking, “But in any case I was wondering if there was another server you are from that you may need or want to go back to. Obviously I don't know where you came from, and I won't push for details, but I do need to know if there's somewhere you need to return to.”
“Well I used to be on a server a while back, but due to some complications we decided to leave. But no, I don't have any place I need to be.” He says simply, not showing any particular emotion other than kindness and a well hidden closed off look about the subject of his old server. Xisuma barely caught it in his eyes before he hid it completely.
“Alright then. Would you like to stay on this server then? If you have nowhere else to go, that is.”
Grian stops suddenly, a look of confusion clear on his face which slightly surprised Xisuma.
“You want me to stay here? Like, you're ok with it if I decided to stay?”
“Yeah. I can tell the other Hermits have already taken an interest in you, and most of them really like meeting new people. Some are shy, but kind nonetheless. So, do you want to stay?”
“If.. If you would allow me too then I'd really like that.” he says with a small surprised smile.
“Of course. Let me just let the others know that we have a new hermit and I can give you some information about this season.”
He types out the message to the world chat.
Xisuma: Hello everyone, I just wanted to Inform you all that we have a new hermit! Please welcome Grian with open arms :)
Scar: Yay! welcome grain we're halpy to have you!
Iskall: awesome man, good to hear your alright!
Ren: Right on Little dude, glad to have ya!
Tango: One of us! One of us!
“See, they're already excited about your joining.” He says motioning to his communicator.
“Ah, uh, I don't.. have a communicator. It got lost a while back and I haven't been able to get another one.” Grian said sheepishly.
“Oh! That's alright, I have spares. You have no idea how often we need extras..” he says, reaching in his inventory to try and find one, “Ah! Here you go. Just plug in your player name and all should be good. I'm also going to send you a Map of the server this season and the layout for different sections of kinds of builds. So there's different districts as you will see. And then you can pick one to build in! As well as the map will be some information about each district so you're caught up.”
Grian smiles thankfully at him, “I really appreciate this X-i-suma. Thanks for all the help.” He said with a playful grin.
He gives a look at his antics but says nothing otherwise. He will definitely fit in here.
“Well I'll leave you to it to get a start on your beginnings. Good luck Grian, don't be afraid to ask if you need anything.” He says as he starts to walk away.
Grian nods gratefully as he looks at the map and starts to think about everything. And he lets himself hope, just for a moment, that maybe this is the fresh start he needs.