The Chained Watcher

Puppy :)

~~~

When he found the others, although they weren't quite as silly-looking as he is, they too are trying to figure out how to store the bags that don't fit in their inventories. A couple snickers break out when his bandoliers of bags register, but none of them ask any questions.

For a moment it does look like Impulse wants to say something, but he kept quiet after a pointed glance from Xisuma. Seems like the admin gave them a talking to after he escaped their questions, probably about being too nosy. The lack of questions is quite relieving, since he really doesn't want to have to try to explain more about this place than necessary.

Yes, this conflicts with his desire to show off, but having this many Hermits simultaneously learn that he's a Watcher would be... rough, to say the least. Already, the amount of context clues they could put together from this makes him nervous.

It's not like he would mind them knowing, that's not it in the slightest, he's just worried about how they'll react when everything clicks. While he could technically calm them down by projecting calm emotions to them, he doesn't want to do something like that, not for his own benefit. Pushing his own emotions onto them to suppress unwanted fear would be a bit too close to manipulating them for comfort.

Taking a breath, he grinned sheepishly and gestured to his excess bags. "So I've fallen to my inner hoarder, and I'm gonna be making multiple trips to grab more stuff after we get back to base. I've got my own ways to get places quickly, but consider this your chance to grab what you want first."

Impulse's eyes flicked over to Xisuma again, but this time he couldn't help but ask, "You mean you're actually letting us take all this stuff? I get that you have a lot of it, but... It kinda feels like we're taking advantage of you."

He appreciates the thought, but none of the stuff they're grabbing is actually hard to replace. "Don't worry about it, it's not like it's doing me any good collecting dust here, so you might as well take what you want. I don't anticipate coming back here for a very long time if nothing goes wrong."

What could go wrong, you might ask? Could be anything, from getting kicked out to having to flee from Listeners or even abandoning Minecraft due to some unrelated reason. Lots of things, all very very unlikely.

Checking the pile of unused bags, he sees it reduced to only a handful of the smaller pouches, with most of the Hermits already having resorted to tying excess bags to their waists. He still had the most, though.

"Just so you know, we're not keeping all this stuff for ourselves." Turning to look at Cleo, he tilted his head. "Even if you don't need it, it's still yours. We'll keep some of it, don't get me wrong, but there's no way we can in good conscience take all of this without earning it."

"I really don't mind-"

"Nope, no arguing." He blinked. Are they really turning down the majority of the stuff he let them have access to? Why? Surely some of this would be useful to them, would it not?

"...Are you sure-"

"Yes we're sure, now stop asking."

Someone had used the last of the bags while he was protesting, meaning that they should all be ready to head back to base. He smiled helplessly. There really is no way of winning these arguments sometimes.

"Well, if you're sure. Anyone want to grab anything else before we head back to base?"

They shook their heads, and he started leading the way back to the portal.

~~~

On the surface, everyone is preparing to take off. Making sure their bags are securely tied, checking their rocket numbers, double checking their elytra durability, eating food...