When Xisuma texted Grian to meet up at one in the morning, he wasn't sure how alert Grian would be, but he certainly didn't expect this. Grian tapped his fingers on his leg, his eyes dancing around the room. The anxious energy radiated off of him in waves, making Xisuma more nervous than he already was. "So Grian, how are you doing?"

Grian blinked out of his trance. "Oh uh, just fine X, how about you?" His answer was robotic, and his fingers couldn't stop fidgeting.

"Just fine. I'm sure you're wondering why I texted you so late." X wasted no time dodging around the issue. He had texted quite a few hermits tonight, and he had already wasted most of the moonlight hours searching for Doc.

"Yeah, I am wondering. What's wrong? You made it sound important." Grian finally looked up at Xisuma, and he couldn't tell if it was a lighting glitch causing the deep dark circles under his eyes. A bubble of anxiety crawled up in X, and he was gripped by the urge to ask more about Grian's past. He was running short on time tonight, but this was important.

"I just want to make sure you're doing alright. Misunderstandings like this tend to dig up old memories, don't they?" Xisuma prodded.

"Yeah, they do... You're talking about Scar and Doc, right?"

X raised an eyebrow. Grian dodged his question easily, but not perfectly, which almost made for stronger evidence that Xisuma's assumptions were right. "Yeah. I've heard rumor that you're the expert on the issue, correct?"

"I wouldn't say expert, but I've talked to a few people." Grian nodded. "How much do you know?"

"About what you would imagine," Xisuma commented vaguely. If he was honest, he didn't know much about Doc and Scar's situation, which is what brought him here at this hour. There were a lot of strange things happening around the server, but Grian couldn't know that his fearless admin was completely clueless, and frankly concerned.

"Oh, then do you know what they're working on? Or where? Because it's all pretty suspicious if you ask me, and-" Grian's eyes were locked onto X now, and they screamed fear, a fear deeper than an innocent concern for friends. Grian was definitely hiding something, and it was big.

"Grian, I know this is probably hard for you, but none of this confusion is their fault. I don't know all the details, but they're innocent in this, and you can't do anything to change the situation this time."

"This time?" Grian muttered to himself as he raised an eyebrow. "You wanted to know what I know, right? Ren is stressed over Doc, Cub is worried about Scar, and Scar made it sound like they were raising the dead out in the middle of nowhere." Grian folded his arms definitely.

Xisuma analyzed his face for more information, but was greeted by nothing but a mask of suspicion. He must have been too on the nose with his questions, because Grian had put up a solid wall. "Alright, thank you Grian. I'm going to visit Cub next, is there anything you want me to tell him?"

Grian pondered for a moment. "Nah, just tell him if he needs help I'm always around. Bye X."

They said goodbye tersely and Xisuma flew off. That went about as poorly as he could have imagined. His plan really was to learn more about Doc, but his curiosity about Grian's past got in the way. He wasn't even certain Grian remembered his past at all, really. It was just a hunch he had, based on multiple conversations and some suspicious markings he found when going through code as part of his admin chores. Grian knew more than he let on, and X was worried he wasn't nearly as innocent as he appeared to be. People remembering past lives was rare, and typically upsetting; being dragged from your home into a foreign world was disturbing, to say the least. That was the other possibility, was that Grian had a fine life back home, but the trauma of world-hopping had scarred him. Xisuma hoped none of those were the case, but if his hunch was correct he wanted to support Grian however he could.

Now, on the matter of Doc; Xisuma had no clue. As an admin he should have access to everyone's locations at all times, but Scar and Doc had fallen off the grid mysteriously. It had to be some strange glitch in the system. This wasn't the most difficult situation X had ever dealt with as an admin, but it certainly wasn't good. The most upsetting part was the fact that it all happened so quickly and from out of nowhere, forcing Xisuma to interrogate other hermits for clues at two in the morning unexpectedly.

Gliding to a stop in the ConCorp common area, Xisuma quickly spotted Cub and made his way over. Cub rubbed his eye and rolled his shoulders back, evidently having just woken up. Lucky.

"Hey Cub, thanks for meeting me so late, I really appreciate it."

"No problem Xisuma, how can I help ya?"

"What do you know about Scar?" Xisuma felt bad watching Cub flinch at the name.

"Ah, I should've figured. I don't know much, unfortunately. Scar was acting strange for a while- tired, stressed, distracted- but as you know, a weeks ago he disappeared entirely. I've only talked to him a couple times since then, but he doesn't look well." If he looked sleepy earlier, Cub looked drained now. It was clear that the disappearance of his friend was taking a toll on him.

"Thank you Cub, that's good to know. I don't suppose you know what he's doing or where he is?"

Cub shook his head. "He's been tight-lipped about the whole operation, but it seems important to him. He mentioned multiple times that there were lives on the line, but he tends to be overdramatic about these things."

Xisuma perked up at that. "He said that? Lives are on the line?"

Cub wilted. "Yeah, I figured it was an expression of his, but based on your reaction I wonder if it's true."

"That's what I'm worried about..." Xisuma trailed off, lost in thought. Who's lives were on the line? Scar's? Doc's?

"Hey Xisuma?" Cub's voice was soft, broken. "What do you know?"

Xisuma's heart shattered. He hoped he could go one season without a world-rending incident, but clearly trouble followed him through the worlds- and it followed Doc evidently, considering the nHo fiasco last season. "If I can be honest Cub, I'm not sure. My tracking systems can't find either of them, which has never happened before." If it was any other hermit, X would have bent the truth to avoid unnecessary worry from his poor hermits, but he knew Cub would prefer the facts face-on. That was always how Cub had operated, and it's what made him such a good business owner.

A glitch flickered the air around them, startling the pair. "Oh, I forgot to ask you the other day, what's going on with all the world glitches? Is it normal stuff, or is it tied in somehow?"

Xisuma offered a weak shrug. "It's hard to tell, but I'm planning on doing some code-hunting to try and find Doc and Scar, so I'll keep an eye out for that."

X wasn't sure if it was a glitch or not, but Cub's head snapped up, his intense blue eyes piercing X to the core. "You won't hurt them right? I wouldn't look for them if I was you, it's far beyond what you can comprehend. Promise me you won't go find them."

Shivers crawled up X's spine. Cub stared him down unwaveringly, exhaustion suddenly gone. Something wasn't right about this. "Alright Cub, I promise to stay safe."

Almost instantly the world lagged again and he relaxed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Thank you for everything Xisuma, it means the world to me. Text me when you find something?"

Xisuma nodded blankly, waving as Cub returned to his house. There was definitely going on behind the scenes here, and X needed to figure it out quick. The way Cub looked at him just then was blank, with no understanding, almost like Cub wasn't the one speaking in that moment. And what was causing that strange lag? Was it even related to all this? It was eerie to say the least, and Xisuma was glad he dodged around the strange promise. He couldn't promise he'd never go find where Doc was hiding, but he would definitely be safe while doing it. Now, he just had to figure out what exactly he was looking for.

Love you, my little stars!
-RaeTheStar