When the Dawn Breaks [TBAU]

☆ Chapter 13 ☆

Xisuma sat at his desk, doodling idly in a sketchbook while he let his mind wander.

He was also listening to music through the headphones imbedded in his helmet, specifically Noah Kahan's new album, Stick season. Xisuma himself was typically more of a rock guy than a bluegrass guy, but Stress has recommended it to him, and he was in love. If Xisuma was omniscient, he would break the fourth wall and tell the readers to check out the album.

But he's not omniscient or omnipotent, unfortunately, so he just listened in peace. However, peace wasn't really the best word, because head was far from it. There were a lot of things going on with the hermits lately, and all of it had sort of compiled into a worried mess in his head.

For starters, there was everything going on with Impulse, which was a whole lot more than what it appeared on the outside.

Impulse was clearly lying to Xisuma about a lot of things, where he was from, what he was. He'd lied to the whole town when he told them he was a human. Which, to be fair, Xisuma wasn't upset about. There was a lot of bigotry against non-humans in the world, and while Hermit Village was meant to be a safe haven, he understood if Impulse still didn't want to tell them what he was.

But Xisuma was impatient, and he really wanted to know what Impulse was. His magic aura was simply just purple, with yellow sparks, which is more tied to his personality anyways rather than his species. In due time, Impulse would tell them, right? Xisuma gripped his pencil a little tighter, it was like knowing half of a secret. The curiosity was overwhelming.

He wouldn't flat out ask Impulse, he'd rather he tell everyone naturally, on his own. The hard part was that being inhuman wasn't the only secret Impulse was keeping. There was clearly a lot more that he was hiding, as he didn't seem to be all that great at lying. Xisuma let it slide anyways, because something in him sympathized with Impulse.

After all, the guy just looked like he'd been through a lot, and Xisuma's heart ached for him, especially so after what happened at the get together a few days back.

Xisuma felt guilty about that. He hadn't told Impulse that the ones at his place always seemed to be bigger and louder. He hadn't told Impulse that it could be triggering. If he'd thought to mention something, maybe Impulse would've been more prepared.

At least Scar and Bdubs seemed to have helped him. Which, on the topic of Scar and Bdubs, there was clearly something between them and Impulse, and that led to another concern. The incident from a month ago.

Scar had told Xisuma that Bdubs believed Impulse was the one who'd saved him in the forest that day. It lined up in two ways: the first was that Impulse did indeed have magic, and the second was that Impulse had been in the same village at the same time.

But why didn't Impulse want to tell anyone that? Xisuma has first assumed that it was out of humility, until Impulse had refused to admit even seeing Bdubs at the village in the first place. It could've been a coincidence, but if felt as if there was some big secret behind the whole thing.

And it seemed like Scar and Bdubs had been let in on whatever that secret was. Xisuma had seen the two make up with one another, so maybe Bdubs has shared whatever he knew about Impulse with Scar, and now all three knew. Xisuma grumbled to himself. This whole thing was like a puzzle, but with a whole ton of missing pieces.

He should be glad, happy that Impulse was getting along with his hermits. He may be worried about him hiding something, but it clearly couldn't be that bad, or Scar and Bdubs would have told him immediately. And plus, it wasn't like anything dangerous was happening under his nose.

Xisuma sighed and leaned his chin in his hand, still sketching with the other hand. It would be fine, he assured himself. Impulse was a nice guy, kind and empathetic, and he fit right in with the other hermits. Xisuma was occasionally hearing him shuffling around in the other room when there was a pause in his music, Doc had given him some redstone circuits earlier and Xisuma was fairly sure he was messing around with them.