Always Watching, Always Listening

I Familiar Faces

Scar woke up with a crick in his neck and an ache in his back. He felt like he'd fallen asleep on a cobble block.
Nevermind. This was worse than cobble.

It took him a second to register the strange hum of energy around him.

Scar's better eye cracked open before snapping shut. It was way to bright right now.
He opened his eyes slowly this time, shielding them from the sun.
Now, he could see that he was in a new server. This wasn't Season Nine... Where was he?

Looking around, there were various Hermits scattered around him, they were still unconscious. Grian was gently walking to the edge of the pile.
A little ways away from the Hermits were a few piles of strangers.
One had a whole host of unconscious magical beings, another held a large group of non-humans and the third held a group of hybrids.

Cautiously, Scar followed Grian away from the Hermits.

After a short walk through the field to the nearby tree-line, Scar found a group of strangers. There were people he recognised, namely Grian and Xisuma, but the majority were strangers. There was a short (for their kind) heterochromatic enderman in a crown and cloak, a pig-person - also wearing a crown, a stranger wearing a kimono who had wings and was covered in void-like feathers, a masked fellow wearing green, and...
A familiar face.
DarkenedVoidGlow.
Void.
His best friend from The Academy.

"Scar?" she asked, her deep indigo eyes filled with uncertainty.
"Hey, Vee..." he said softly.
"I guess your face matches your name now too," she laughed. It wasn't a bitter sound, but it wasn't joyous either.
Scar understood what she meant immediately. Along with her long ash-coloured hair, Vee had a void burn covering most of her face from when she was little.

Void burns were the the worst kind of burn. They didn't pale like a heat burn scar - instead going grey with time - and no matter how weak the exposure, the void always marred those bold enough, or foolish enough, to touch it. They wouldn't disappear if the skin was removed either.

Scar saw Xisuma shift uncomfortably out of the corner of his eye.
Interesting.

The group began talking to one another, giving introductions.
Bird dude's name was Phil, he and ender-boy (whose name was Ranboo) were from a world called Origins. Pig-man was called Techno and he and Dream (the masked man) hailed from the Dream SMP.
By now, a strange, Scottish elf with wings called Scott, or the future Mountain Emperor as he called himself (although the word future had a questioning intonation in it), had joined the group.

The group were talking for around an hour when a young man in a red and white shirt stumbled over, demanding to know who the strangers around him were. After introducing himself as Tommy, he eventually took note of Void's injury.

"What happened to your face?" he asked her, activating every fight muscle in Scar's body.
He knew how much trauma was tied to Void's sars, the dysphoria from her youth.

"I... Was pushed into the void when I was young. Most of the front of my body was scarred. Count yourself lucky that this dimension has a consistent floor," Void explained after a moment, her voice full of grief.
"I agree," muttered X, tears in his voice.
"You've fallen in the void too?" Vee asked, sounding less surprised and more melancholic.
"No, but my... Brother did. It killed him," X said softly. "We were twins so our grieving parents cloned me to try and get him back. Something went wrong and, well... a being we called Evil Xisuma was created."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Void told him. " ╎   ∴╎ᓭ⍑   ||𝙹⚍∷   ʖ∷𝙹ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ∷'ᓭ   ᓭ𝙹⚍ꖎ   ∴ᒷꖎꖎ.  ⟟   ⍙⟟⌇⊑   ⊬⍜⎍⍀   ⏚⍀⍜⏁⊑⟒⍀'⌇   ⌇⍜⎍⌰   ⍙⟒⌰⌰. I wish your brother's soul well. "
"Thank you," X said with tears in his eyes.
"No problem. If he was anywhere near as gentle as you seem, your brother was a good kid. He'd have been a strong soul, just like you."

X was too choked up to speak. Void gave him a hug, holding him close and whispering gentle Galactic into his ear while swaying him softly from side to side.

Tommy chose now to ask, "You don't have to answer, but is falling in the void why your voice is so deep and scratchy?"
Scar couldn't hold back his vex-side, even if it would block the spell that kept him stable. He leapt to defend his best friend, keep her from dealing with that pain, grabbing Tommy by the throat and hissing at him.

" ̵̧͈̞̟̦̹̞̱̩͈̮̫͈̯̐͐́̅̅͒͂̾̊́͐͜!̴̧̧̢̡̞͕̦̪̳̻̠̳̺̬̗̳͉͍̩͓̙̀͊͌̈́̿̾̈̓̈́̌͂͛̒̀̑͂̃́̋͛̅̑̽͌̕͘͜͝ͅИ̶̨̧̧̢̱̘͕̖̖̘͔̫̙̙̫̱̻͙̞̮͕͎̼̘̫͕̫͒̑̒̈̉̉̚͝Į̸̡̧̮̰͔̝̖̳̯̰̻͔͓͖͎̖͇̫̯̯̲͕̀̉͐͌Ą̸̨͙̞̮̜̮̮̜̠̤̬͚͕̟̭͓̪̙͌͘͝Ә̸̨͍͂̆̈̓̓A̸͔̙̭̟̟͗̑͑̍͊͛̏́̀͊̈̓̅͛̃̀̈́͌̅͑͌͐̎̽̚̚̕͘͝ ̸̡̛̟̪͇̥̩̩̫̠̈́̅͆̈́̾̇͒̊̅̅̓̄̃̔̊͂̍̈́̊͛̅̍̈́̿̚͘̕͝ͅT̸̛̝̪͕̺͓̻̭͊̀̈́͆͑͐͒̈́͂̈́̍̀̀̕̕̚̕͠͝A̴̡̨̱͖̣͚̱̙̝̼̲̫̪̱͚͕̘̣͍̯̟̦̤̙̺̱̽̓̂̑̄́̀̓̌́̏͜ͅH̶̡̡̦̜̤͖͍̥͓̣̰͈͖͔̭̖̯͊̋͂̂͗͐̓͂̈́̍̐́̌̒̿͋͘̕͝ͅT̵̡̼̤̱̦͈̝͌̽̈́̆̍̌̂́̉̀̀̏̈͌̆̔̇͘ ̵̡̲̥̈́́̔̍́̒̑̐̿̍̅͂̀͐͌͐̚̕͝͝Y̸̟̺̔̑͑ͅA̷̧̙̜̙͉͕̮̥̘͙̫̼͚̗͍͍̤̳̮̤͈͍̤̻̯̯̠̓̋̊̿̅̏̔̓͑́̈́̐̓̏͋͌̔̚Ƨ̸̡̢̨̡̝͉̞͇̗̼̦͚͕̹͔͙͔͍̞͓̮̥̘̭̹͈͕̜͋͛̍̎͂̑̉̿̑͂̌͗̇͆̎̈̀̿͘̚͜͝͠ ̷̧̡̨̮̫̻̣͖͙̹̜͓͙̰̹͎̜̼̰̭̭̖̗̰̠̗̽́̐̈́̋͐̈́͜Я̴̧͈͇̖̘͔̤͚̝̳̪̍̈́̏̾̑́̅͊̅͑͂̑̄̉̀̌̂̉̐̎̃́̕̚ͅͅƎ̵̡̡̗̣̪̗̑͐̅̅̿̈́̔͂̃̌̄͗̽̀̊̿̈͗̄́̒̌̚͘͠V̸̡̨̫̹̤̣͙͗̏̍͜͜Ǝ̷̻̺̣̜̘̻̹͋̃̅͂̉̅̉̾̔̾̐̽̌̎̐̌̈́͝И̷̱͕̲͓͚̫͙͗̽͗̇̉́̍̅̿̍̏̋̆̈́̇̓̋̾͑̾͂̂̎"

"W-what?" Tommy stammered in a choked voice as Scar resorted to the use of his vex powers to support his weight and keep up his strength.
"He said to never say that again. When he's anxious or angry, Wizard-Scar and Elf-scar, as mental states, morph into Vex-Scar, weakening his more humanoid instincts and behaviours while also blocking his wizarding abilities, elven hearing and human-language processing," Void explained quietly, trying to keep Xisuma and Scar calm with purely her tone of voice, especially with one not understanding a word of what was being said around him and the other having just been reminded of a traumatic event.
She slowly coaxed Scar into releasing Tommy, wincing at the new mark on his neck.
"Oh, I see. Well I'm sorry, then. I didn't know that that was a sensitive topic. I'll try and keep people from mentioning the scars," Tommy maturely informed the group.
"Thank you," Void smiled.