I arrive before Scar does, but not too long before. It's easy to get there, since Scott'll be asleep, Jimmy won't question, and Jevin's already gone to the meeting. He's the first person I knew had magic, after one or both of us had messed up our system. I still blame myself, though it partially led to the entire group starting.

There's 1 minute of waiting until Scar appears. I wave at him as he tries to orientate, spotting me. 

'Where's the room?' He whispers, running over silently. 

'Close. But be quiet.' Scar does, nodding, eyes wide. With a small nod back, I set off and he follows.

Down the stairs, I start counting the doorways until I find the right one. It's a bad idea going so close to everything, but I don't want to confuse Scar too much with locations. 

It's easy to spot the right door, the light and silhouette of people already there making it obvious. I stop just outside. 

'I'll explain who you are. Don't stare too much or they'll will get upset and think you're judging them.' I remember to say. 'And never mention who's there if anyone questions you. Don't even lie about who's there. Keep your mouth shut if you're ever questioned.'

'I will. Of course I will.' Scar assures, green eyes wide with the idea. I relax, not sure if to apologise, choosing to just open the door and let him in instead. 

'Hypno not here yet?' I start casually. 'To hide that we're here?' 

'No. Jevin did tell him, apparently.' Doc's staring at Scar, arms crossed. Scar's staring at the ground. I know I'll have to explain, or faith the wrath of the 6 foot 8 creeper-cyborg hybrid that's my friend.

'This is Scar. He has magic. Vexling.' 

'When did you find out?'

'Earlier today. That's why I called a meeting.' I look around at the rest of the group. Not everyone's here yet, but Ren, Etho, Cleo, Jevin and Pearl are, as well as Doc. A few - like Ren, who's removed his beanie to free his dog ears and Jevin, who's blue sliminess is visible for all to see - have already got rid of their 'disguises'. Doc's goat mask and gloves are next to him, still wearing a black hoodie, but with the hood down and goat horns showing. Like mine, Pearl's magic isn't physically visible - she's a watcher - and Cleo's not removed the spell to make themself look human, and not like a zombie. Scar looks around at everything

'Wait, you're the one that ran out of redstone class.' Ever the most social of all of us, Ren recognises Scar instantly, breaking the tension. 'And I saw you before that I think.'

'Yeah, you're Ren, right? Nice ears.' 

'Thanks dude!' 

'Yeah, I saw that, man. But we managed to convince Ilmango that it was a prank. Somehow.' Doc adds

'First week, already causing chaos... this guy's a hazard to society.' Jevin calls over. 'But I guess it's vexling nature.' 

'Well... true.' I decide not to argue with my roommate. 'Scar's more prone to pranking himself, I think.'

'Hey! I can prank other people too!' His attempts to regain his dignity don't work, as someone knocks on the door 5 times. The signal.

As Doc lets them in, they immediately start talking, barely aware of anything else that's going on.

'Ok, you know how I thought Scar was magical last week. This time I'm 100% sure. He literally- wait- Scar?!'

'Grian?! What... you DO have magic?' Comes the reply. Tango's arrival just behind is less extravagant as he slips past, excited for whatever conversation of oh-my-goodness-since-when-did-you-have-magic? that everyone here's done at least once. 

'Bro, I was convinced from day one. You literally- oh my goodness, I saw everything in redstone class and then tried to help Cub cover it up...'

'Well, since when did you have magic?! You don't... look like you're hiding anything.' 

'Oh yeah?' Everyone except Scar is ready for Grian removing his sweater and letting his glorious pair of feathered bird wings show. 

'Wow. I was not expecting that.' 

'Avian. Plus also a bit of Watcher magic I didn't mean to get.'

'What's a watcher?'

'Complicated... man, I've been so used to being able to stretch these out all the time. Even before Taurtis left. I was literally going to show them in front of you yesterday I'm so used to it...' 

'Wow... I'm really unobservant. I found some feathers the other day as well and just thought it was the parrots.'

'That's why I keep them. Plus they're great for a bit of extra company. And they're good dancers.' 

'Hey, remember Captain Jack?' References Ren. I smile at the memory of my deceased parrot.

'The greatest parrot in the universe. Until he burnt to death...'  (I don't care if no one gets my season 5 references I'M STILL GOING TO MAKE THEM (':)

'I think Falsie tried to build a statue of him at one point. I dunno. Anyway, Scar, we should probably all introduce ourselves. I'm Ren, half-dog hybrid person thing. Got a tail as well but can't show it off for obvious reasons... Cleo's a zombie, but can shapeshift into a human.' There's a wave over from the red-headed female, deciding to finally show her green zombie-ness. 

'We don't question how I died, or how I can un-die. Or I break your legs.' Cleo quickly sets the rules in place. 

'I'm Pearl. Watcher, like Grian. Same incident. Jevin's half-slime, Doc's a creeper-robot-goat... thing.' 

'Hybrid.' Doc simplifies. 'And great at intimidating people for a joke.' 

'Ice-magic. Like Stress had.' Etho explains briefly. Scar's attention immediately shifts to him. 

'We don't talk about Stress.' Snaps back Grian.

'It's been long enough. If we can't talk about it, who can?'

'If Grian isn't comfortable yet, we shouldn't.' Ren argues. 'We all know it's tough for him.'

'It's not 'tough' it was my fault.' I sense the mood change far too late, stuck on what to do to resolve it.

'Grian, Stress wasn't your-'

'I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT STRESS!' Grian's wings raise as he yells. The room goes silent. He's gone too far, and too loud. 

'I'm sorry. We shouldn't have mentioned it.' Ren bites his lip. 'Tango? Want to explain your power.' 

'I have red eyes.' Tango removes his sunglasses to show Scar. 'And I can sometimes make stuff explode for no reason.'

'Avian and Watcher, as I said earlier. Hate elytras, but love flying.' 

'At some point we're sneaking into one of the big halls for these meetings. So Grian can fly. Ren decides. 'And so Cub and Scar can too. I know about how vexlings have those cool wings.' 

'Like these wings?' I can't help but show off, summoning the vex wings to my back. 

'Woah... that's cool dude.' Doc compliments. 

'Sick! I knew vexlings had cool wings but... dude, that's awesome.' Ren shakes his head in amazement. 

The door bursts open. We all look over to see Hypno, panting. 

'What happened? Have we been found?' 

'Shhhh! I got cornered by Impulse. Had to find an excuse. Thought I heard him following me. Panicked and just went in here.' 

'Wait, why would Impy be looking for us?' Tango asks. Me and Scar look at each other, but don't speak.

 'I don't know. But if we ask him about it, then he'll know something's going on.' Grian argues. 'So we should just keep it hidden.' 

'Tango, would Impulse stay waiting for us?' Ren asks, his calm attitude gone. 

'I don't think so... but I wouldn't know.'

'Should we just make a run for it? Or make something up?' Scar suggests. 

'If we all just appear, he'll know something's up. We'd need to go one by one. And check the coast is clear when we do.' Grian suggests

'Who volunteers to go first then?' Mutters Jevin. 'Because I don't.'

'I can go. I'm the most likely of all of us to be able to get Impulse to think nothing's wrong.' Tango decides. 

'Good idea.' 

'We need to clear up in here though. If we start leaving feathers and dog hairs everywhere...' Ren looks around the room.

'The last person in here can deal with that. There won't be that many, though. Hopefully.' 

'Right, I'm going to go.' Tango dons his sunglasses, nods to all of us, and leaves the room. There's no answer for a while.

'Jev, me and you can go together. All room-mates should go together.' I volunteer

'Agreed. Let's do this. Stay safe everyone.' Jevin follows, and we disappear. 

The corridor outside is silent. I look out for any signs of life, making sure Jevin's hidden enough before we run along and up the stairs. 

I stop suddenly, catching a glimpse of black and yellow. A face stares back at us for a moment, before Impulse runs away.