Yes. I am a short smol bean, with many, many senpais. You are all my absolutely amazing author family to me, obviously, but...

I think...

Well... Um...

I think the hermits have adopted me... Or, just Scar for now.

... What if one person of my new-ish also epic families hurts me... Then... What do I do... D-Do I get mad? But-But... Senpais... Help... I'm having an existential not-actually-related-but-act-like-family crisis...

Also I didn't realise April Fools was an acceptable chapter... Whoops...

Headcannons in this chapter
-It's very easy to persuade Scar if you're cute enough. It's how Grian usually enlists the vex's help in both beautiful builds and semi-evil (but epic) pranks.
-A... Am... I... Allowed... To get adopted... By the hermits... B-Because all of y'all are the same age as most of them, or at least... Your OCs or Minesonas (ha ha. Minecraft personas. G-Get it?) are... But I'm not. I'm... A smol... Child... And now with one dad. Yes, this will eventually grow into many dads, three mums, one grandad TFC and one uncle Joe.
-AFKing is like... Literally sleeping upright, but doesn't get rid of tiredness. It does mean you get much less tired than if you, say, ran about for some time (eg. 1 hour AFK means you lose like... A quarter of the amount of energy as usual), but repeatedly doing it over and over will take a toll on you. SO PLEASE REMEMBER TO SLEEP.
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"Heeeey."

Oh no. Oh no no no no no no no. Scar gulped, dropping the shulker chest he was about to fill and turning around... Ever so very slowly.

Yep. It was the same girl again, purple hoodie, black ponytail, wolf features, dark eyes and all. Oh, and who could forget that smirk? Scar paled at the sight of her... A little less than before though: he'd only just realised how young and unthreatening and... Innocent she looked. He almost wanted to protect her like she was his own child, but then again...

It hadn't even been that long since she last messed so efficiently with the entire server; who knows what she would do this time?

Actually, nothing. The small girl just started staring at the shulker box on the floor with a smile. Scar took this time to calm down, mustering up the courage to speak.

"... Hello... Again... Jingler..."

This made the girl laugh. "Oh, no, I'm not the real Jingler, darling. I just like the name. Besides, since you're not taking advantage over this situation to force me into an interrogation, I guess I'll be asking the questions. So, Mr Jangler. What's... Or should I say, who's the box for? Yeah, I already know, but I just wanna hear you say it... Some people don't like me figuring it out..."

Ok, at least she was considerate... To be honest, cleaning up everyone's bases after her (mostly harmless) pranks must have taken consideration too... Perhaps...

She... Wasn't as bad as Scar thought?

The said girl looked up -yes, she certainly was quite a bit shorter... And looked quite a bit younger- at him expectantly, with such innocent puppy-dog eyes Scar was immediately swayed. The Convex part of his brain slightly face palmed, as the nicer part of his brain ignored it and aw-ed.

"Cub. I've been busy lately, and I just know that he's probably gotten caught up with either improving something ridiculous or helping someone else build something ridiculous, so I thought I'd gift him a little something. I don't know why he doesn't expect me to care about him- maybe this could be a reminder for him to be safe? I don't know what to get him though..." The vex said, in an almost conversational tone. Wait, what happened to suspicion- did he really just say that out loud so easily?! He blushed a little afterwards and hoped the girl didn't notice.

If she did, she chose not to comment on it, instead freezing in place. Then, gradually, her smile started growing until she was beaming, with her hands forming small, hoodie-sleeve covered fists next to her face. Her tail wagged like a dogs, and eyes were so bright they could've been glowing. Or maybe they actually were, Scar couldn't really tell.

Within the next second she'd-

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" One of the most exited squeals Scar had ever heard erupted from the small child like a fire alarm. But high pitched- he felt himself wince at the pitch and volume of it. It stopped abruptly, and he only just about heard the brief sound of quick footsteps going around him before the girl leapt onto his back, clinging onto him.

The builder staggered forwards a little from the sudden weight, but quickly steadied himself. The girl remained clinging onto him, arms hanging down and forming a sort of connection on his chest and legs wrapped tightly above his hips. Like she was subconsciously trying to make it as comfortable as possible for the person she'd leapt on.

"I hope that didn't hurt, but oh my goodness! Mmmmm you're so nice! It's so sweet of you to worry if Cub will like what your gift will be, but I'm sure he'll love anything from you anyway! Oh, I want to help you bad! I promise I won't choose a gift for you, or deliberately screw your choices up! Pleeeeease?"

How she could keep herself on him in a comfortable position and spew compliments for him for so long both amazed and touched Scar; when he felt the slight tremors in her legs and the tiny slip of her arms, he didn't shove her off. He, instead, quickly pulled her hands forward and helped hold her knees- the gentle backpack position must have been hard to maintain, surely, so he tried his best to help if she so wished to carry on being like that.

Scar felt the young girl smile into his shoulder.

"Ok then, Miss-Not-Jingler. How should I show you the idea I have for giving to Cub? A trip to the shopping district?" He asked, his amused eyes meeting her childishly giddy ones.

"Firstly, call me AC, and secondly... Toooo the shopping district!" She cheered, letting Scar move her body to his front (so he could take off). He held her in a protective grip, as if she were a precious thing...

He really needed to at least try and develop some sort of defence against cute eyes...

Time skipperino 000000000000000000

As soon as Scar hit solid ground, AC leapt out of his arms and started zipping about. Literally, she looked as if she was actually zipping about- sometimes teleporting, sometimes moving so fast she was nothing but a blur.

Scar watched in astonishment as he felt her whizz by, occasionally seeing a second or two of her stopping before only the flattened grass showed that someone had trodden there. This carried on for a few minutes.

"I'm so excited! Come on! You're leading the way, darling!"

The brown haired hermit almost jumped out of his skin when the girl's voice suddenly appeared next to him. Nevertheless, he smiled and took her hand, stopping every so often to get her opinion on whether or not he should buy something. Most of the time, she said yes, until before they knew it, they were pretty much done.

Scar took out the shulker box he'd stashed away into his inventory, plopping the items the both of them had agreed on; he soon noticed that he seemed to be missing one.

"Can I put the last one in?" AC asked, holding up the said missing stack. Argh! Scar really couldn't resist those eyes!

"Oh, sure, sure! Just be careful, ok?" He chirped, handing the box over swiftly. The younger girl grinned and, like he said, carefully placed the last object in. A tiny whiff of something nice-smelling attracted Scar's attention, but before he could ask, the girl had already put the box back into his inventory and leapt back onto his front.

How did she-

"Oh, Scar, quickly, there's no time to waste! Cub's just AFK! Yes, instead of actually sleeping, but this is our chance!" She whisper-shouted, ears and right finger pointing in the general direction of Cub's house. Slightly confused, but trusting the girl with how much she somehow knew about the server (and its inhabitants), Scar held onto her and took of again.

Cheerful (fangirl) talk was exchanged.

Time skipponni 0000000000000000000

Ok, that was kind of... Creepy...

Just like AC had said, Cub was AFK at a farm. The 'cake factory', to be precise, which was a little out of the norm what with Convex's massive cake supply. When the other vex had pointed this out, the girl had simply giggled and told him to hurry... Which wasn't unsuspicious at all.

Scar decided not to probe any further: he couldn't lie, it was thanks to her help that he'd been able to get the right gift... Or rather, enough courage to give it...

As he silently placed the shulker box in front of his AFK partner-in-crime, the girl mimed a cheer, her ears perking bolt upright. This made him stifle a laugh at her childish antics. He in turn gestured for her to get back onto him, but once understanding him, her face and ears dropped sadly.

The girl shook her head slowly, tapping her wrist on a none-existant watch. A brief hug to Scar's waist was given to him before she disappeared, just as quickly as the first time.

Unlike last time though, the older man heard something that was whispered into his ear just before she'd left that'd brought a smile to his face.

"If you think of me like your child, then I'm proud to be your non-biological daughter!"

(Author's note: ... DON'T FIGHT ME... Please... I... I'm scared... I literally mean a fatherly figure, not a head-in-the-gutter thing, I'm too innocent! Also because like I've said, I'm smol. Child, pretty much... And I act like one lol.)
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As Cub's eyes refocused, the vex groaned and stretched out his muscles. He hadn't even AFKed for that long, but because of how many times he'd been doing to to get enough resources, he was still tired.

Actually, he should probably get back to those said projects... Yet one foot being placed forwards brought pain instead of distance-coverage.

"UMPH! W-What?! A shulker box?... I didn't leave that there... Did I?" Cub muttered, staring the the box incredulously. A sign next to it read 'To my fellow vex'.

Curiously, he opened up the purple container to see if it indeed now belonged to him... And inside, found a range of useful things. A lot of which were the resources he needed too... It must have been Scar. Only he would've been so nice, and known exactly what, to bring to him... Except three things right at the end. Cub took them out with interest.

A bunch of freshly picked daises. A book called 'To Cub, by the Jangler'. A map that looked to have the Convex logo on it, which he chose to leave in the box.

Smelling the flowers first, the smiling hermit quickly placed them in a nearby flowerpot as he started to read the book.

"I've heard of a tale
Of a prince and a knight,
And how the prince worked
All through the night.

The knight cared for the prince,
So on one sunny day,
Stopped him from working,
Just so he could say...

'If you really know
How much I care
Then you'd take a break.'
And the prince only stared.

But oh! Our little story
Has no end, you see
So would you please kindly,
Take a break for me?"

If Cub wasn't so busy being flustered, maybe he could've remembered the Convex logo didn't have a heart around the letters 'C + S'.