Impulse was fairly sure that Xisuma had caught on to his fear by now. Mostly because of the way the alleged mayor spoke to him softly and carefully, as if he was a wounded animal.

Impulse was not a wounded animal.

But he was nervous.

Impulse stayed silent while Xisuma led him into the village, chattering about the different things they had there. He listened carefully, not wanting to let information go to waste.

He took note of the surroundings, trying to quickly make a mental map of Hermit Village. It was an incredibly small community compared to others. There was one main, cobbled road with a few dirt paths branching off of it. At the beginning of the road (the north end) was the entrance to the village, and at the end was their town hall, the biggest structure in the place. To the east of the road were all of the houses, and to the west there was a barn, some shops, and an archery range among a few other recreational things. Impulse knew he'd need to get to know the layout better if he was to stay for a while, but this was fine for now.

This was going well, in all honesty. He hadn't been kicked out of the village immediately at least. That had happened in the first town Impulse had gone to.

You forget to mask your demon traits once and they chase you out with flaming torches in hand like you're a monster.

As long as he kept using his cloaking magic, the others would just see him as human, and all would be fine. Because Impulse wasn't a monster.

"Alright! This is my place!" Xisuma stopped walking as they reached one of the houses closest to town hall. It was large, two stories with an attic, and soft golden light peeked through the windows. "Well, it's also more or less the town lodge, since it has a lot of guest rooms. Perfect for travelers like yourself!"

Impulse smiled and followed Xisuma through the front door. The inside of the house looked almost bigger than the outside. They entered into a foyer with a long red rug, and stairs to one side with a balcony view from the hallway of the second floor. The bottom floor was mostly open concept, the kitchen, living room and small game room all visible and interconnected.

(Remind me to never describe house layouts again.ok Soe)

Xisuma took the stairs, and it looked for a moment like he was trying not to jump up them two at a time. Impulse ran a hand along the polished wood railing as he followed.

They stopped at the third door down the hall, and Xisuma swung it open with a flourish of his hands. "Your room, esteemed guest," X exaggerated his British accent a little bit, and Impulse huffed out a giggle, looking into the room.

It had all the necessities: a bed, dresser next to it, a small table with two chairs, and a door to a small bathroom off to the side. Impulse stepped inside and placed down his bag near the door.

"Alright, I'll let you get settled then. And, for dinner, you like lasagna?" Xisuma cracked a wide smile, which Impulse returned, nodding.

"Oh, I almost forgot..." Impulse fumbled for his bag again, and pulled out some diamonds, "Thank you, Xisuma, for your hospitality." He pressed the diamonds into the mayor's hand.

"Oh, no no it's fine!" Xisuma tried to give them back. "I do this for free—"

"I insist, please." Impulse interjected, and Xisuma accepted the money, sighing and putting it in his pocket.

"Alright then, I'll be back in a bit," Xisuma turned and trotted back down the hallway and the stairs. Impulse watched until he couldn't see him anymore and shut the door to his room.

He let out a quiet sigh of relief. He'd gotten a place to stay, he was getting food to eat, he was going to be fine. Impulse took a few steps and flopped face first into the bed's comforter.

In the silence of Xisuma's absence, a small voice echoed around in his head.

Three months. Three. Months.

That was plenty of time. And you know what? Screw them.

Impulse was going to make this the best three months he'd ever had.

~ tiiiiiiiiiiime sKiP ~

The next day

Impulse pulled in a shaky breath, hand on his door handle. It was currently almost 8 am, though Impulse had woken much earlier. He hadn't wanted to leave his room until he was sure his host was awake, and based on the couple of clatters he'd heard from downstairs, Xisuma probably was now.

He twisted the handle and pushed open the door, and padded downstairs softly.  The sound of people talking eminated from the kitchen, so Impulse made his way towards the noise. He realized his hands were shaking but ignored it, shoving them into his pockets.

"Hello there, Impulse!" Xisuma greeted cheerily. He was wearing a messy apron, and next to him stood a hermit the Impulse had yet to meet. They had grayish green skin, contrasted by curly, fiery red hair that sat on their shoulders like a lion's mane. Xisuma gestured towards them. "This is Cleo, and we made pancakes!"

"More like we burned pancakes," Cleo quipped with an eye roll. Xisuma made a small pout at their comment.

"Either way, they smell delicious!" Impulse noted, walking around the counter.

The three proceeded to feast on slightly burnt pancakes, all the while, Xisuma continued talking about things they had in the village, with Cleo pitching in occasionally. It was funny, he talked about their farms as if they were tourist attractions, but maybe that's just the way Xisuma was.

"And, you should definitely check out Keralis' coffee shop, I mean, I'm more of a tea guy myself but—"

"Coffee?!" Impulse shot to full attention, interrupting Xisuma. Gods, it had been so long since Impulse had been able to have coffee, and it was by far his favorite drink.

"Yeah, Keralis is the best at brewing it, the shop's open most mornings. Not today though, since it's meeting day. I take it you're a coffee guy?" Cleo finished for Xisuma. Impulse nodded rapidly in response, excited by the prospect of this coffee shop.

"Then you'll have to check it out at some point!" Xisuma exclaimed. "In other news, it's getting about time for the town meeting, you two ready to head out?"

They nodded, clearing their dishes away and getting ready to leave. Impulse sucked in a small breath, the prospect of meeting everyone spinning around in his head. In fact, he was so stuck in his head that he barely registered them traveling from Xisuma's place to the Town Hall. They were there before he knew it.

And so were all the other hermits. They funneled into the place, chattering and making the world louder.

"Follow me to the front please, Impulse." Xisuma's tone had changed to be more commanding, showing off how much of a leader he really was. Impulse stuck to the mayor's heels as they skirted around the crowd and to the front of the large main room. There was a huge table that the other hermits were sitting down at.

They were staring at him. Impulse stepped behind Xisuma, fidgeting with his hands. He could tell everyone was looking at him, some people staring, others casting quick glances.

The minutes they waited felt like they were stretching into years.

Xisuma started doing a quick headcount.

"Okay, looks like everyone's here! If you'd all get settled please, and we'll get started," Xisuma begun, voice loud and stretching over the room. All of the hermits quieted down, listening to what their mayor had to say.

"I'm sure all of you are very excited, or confused. For those of you who didn't know, a traveler showed up in the village last night. This is Impulse." Xisuma gestured towards Impulse and paused, seemingly gauging the others reactions. "Since it is rare for adventurers to pass through here, I'll let all of you go around and introduce yourselves. Afterwards, we can all pitch in to get him whatever he needs to continue his travels, or we can show him around if he chooses to stay for a while. So without further ado, who wants to start? Please say your name, species, and anything else you'd like to add!"

Immediately after Xisuma finished talking, someone shot up from their seat with a hand raised. He had wild blonde hair and bright red eyes, as well as a thin but fluffy tail that whipped around behind him in excitement.

"Me! I'll start!" He exclaimed, and Xisuma motioned for him to go ahead. "Okay, I'm Tango Tek, I'm a netherborn, mac n' cheese is amazing, and I can do this!" Tango held his breath and tensed up, and with a cartoonish poof, flames began to dance in his hair. "Tada!"

Impulse let out a small laugh at Tango's theatrics, and they moved on to the next person. ...Who happened to be terrifying when stood at their full height.

"I'm Doc M. Creeper-goat hybrid," They grumbled in a German accent. "Don't touch my redstone and I'll let you live—"

"Doc!" Xisuma hissed, "You can't say that to people!"

"Alright, alright. I'm Doc, I like redstone." The man huffed and sat back down, and the person next to him stood up.

"I'm False Symmetry, human, and this is my little brother Wels." She said in a comically stuffy voice, motioning to the armour clad man next to her. He, in response shot to his feet.

"Hey!" Wels protested. "We're twins!"

"Yeah but I'm older." False stuck her tongue out and smiled in triumph. They moved on to the next hermit.

Impulse listened carefully as they all went around the table, continuing to introduce themselves. Some people were loud and funny like Tango, making sure to introduce themselves as dramatically as possible, such as Scar, the half-vex. Impulse remembered seeing Scar the day before. Other people were quieter, like XB, the guardian hybrid. He'd only introduced himself with his initials and species, before slipping back into his seat.

There weren't many village members, so Impulse did his best to remember all of their names. He had decided he would like to stay in Hermit Village after all, since he clearly wasn't fit for traveling longer than a day.

There were so many different species here it almost made Impulse want to drop his aura. If this village had excepted Mumbo, a vampire, and Cub and Scar, both vex, surely they weren't discriminatory at all...

But Impulse wasn't going to risk it.

They reached the end of the table, and everyone had introduced themselves. But that's when Impulse looked back towards one person in particular.

Bdubs was the name he'd introduced himself with. He looked scarily familiar and Impulse was trying to recall just exactly why. He was a phantom hybrid with tanned skin and huge eyes, and he wore a bandana and a fluffy green cloak that looked like it was made out of moss.

And suddenly it hit him, and Impulse remembered where he had seen those phantom wings before. But there was one problem.

That man, in the moss cloak, was the reason Impulse had been banished from the nether in the first place.

~ end chapter 2 ~

A/N: False and Wels are siblings now, pog. I personally think that this is amazing. I wonder if False would approve of iBiffaKnight? Questions for another day.