Chapter Text
While Grian never claimed to be smart this may have been the single dumbest decision he had ever made, but he just couldn’t do it anymore he couldn’t be the monster under the bed for a single moment longer. Stumbling through the void trying to remember where the portal he was hoping to find was, he used what little energy and magic he could to attempt to disguise himself. The scratchy robes he wore replacing themselves with a sweater and pants, his numerous sets of wings melding into one, and the eye covering melting off his face. As his outstretched hand finally met the cool ripples of the portal he sighed in relief lightly flapping his new wings to push himself through.
After not feeling the wind on his face for so long it offered a sweet moment of freedom before he realised that he could feel it on the rest of him, he was falling and fast. He tried to fling his wings open but he wasn’t used to just having two, still he managed to catch the wind switching from falling directly down to a glide. As soon as he let out the breath he hadn’t realised he was holding though a new problem smacked him in the face, well the wing. And as if in slow motion he felt himself plummet once again unable to get his wing to extend in a last ditch attempt he wrapped himself in them in hopes he wouldn’t die, if he did he knew they would never let him manage to escape again. He could feel what he could only assume were his bones poking out of his wings, blood leaking out and making his feathers feel sticky. The impact was blindingly painful and the ringing in his ears made it nearly impossible to hear but as he faded away he could have sworn he heard voices.
“-ink he’s waking up! Can someone get in here please” An unfamiliar and concerningly cheery voice hits him like a shovel to his face as he awoke, attempting to jolt up he felt an arm swing across his chest. Still the attempt sent pain through his entire body. “Hey buddy, you’re safe you’re in one of my friend’s bases. I don’t know how much you know or remember but her name is Gem and she’s a deer hybrid, she’s cool. I think she might be the second or third shortest of us if you count, you know.” And he certainly did not know what the man was talking about, nor did he believe that he was safe but maybe if he played along it would be easier.
“Scar would you mind leaving us and checking on the potions, they should be done soon.” A new voice approaches, accompanied by two heavy steps of footsteps. Moments after they stop he hears the wood creak and the sound of something smooth running over a smooth surface. “Well I assume introductions are in order. My name is Xisuma, I use he/they/void pronouns and am the server admin. And this is False, she uses she/her and she is, well she is sorta, she…”
“Security, I’m security. Here to make sure that if you have bad intentions towards anyone here that you are dealt with.’’ The wo-False states matter of factly, causing Grian to have to swallow down his anxiety.
“Anyway, who are you?” Xisuma questions anamusedly.
‘My name is Grian’ He softly signs.
“Oh, that was signing right?” Xisuma pauses probably looking for confirmation from the other. “False mind grabbing K? I’m pretty sure he signs and can interpret, he was on shift last so I think he’s resting on a spare bed Gem should know where.” After a moment he can hear footsteps wander away, followed by a large dramatic sigh and the sound of someone falling back to lean on the wall.
“Alright Sashwammy why am I he- oh they’re awake!” A new voice who he assumed was this K person sounds as if they’ve woken up with a shot of adrenaline.
“They are, but they’re signing and we were hoping you could interpret. We aren’t sure if they can hear us.” Xisuma explains.
‘I can hear just not talk.” Grian signs slowly.
“They said they can hear just not talk. Oh and I’m Keralis, he/him.”
‘Grian. And he I think.’
“His name is Grian, and he uses he/him.”
“So Grian, how exactly did you get here?” Xisuma asks suspiciously.
‘Honestly, I don’t really know. I can’t really remember anything, but I also do? I clearly remember how to sign, but I don’t know why I do.’ He lied through his teeth, well hands.
“He doesn’t know. It sounds like amnesia, he might have hit his head harder than we first thought.” Keralis theorises.
“So I’m guessing you don’t know why you’re here, but to me it seems like you were running from something. My only questions would be, from what? And more importantly what does that mean for our community.” False questions, sounding more than prepared to fight and win.
‘Not really, all I really know is that wherever I was the thought of going back makes me feel like I’d rather you just perma-kill me.’ He signs, hands shaking so much the signs feel illegible. After all it was only a half-lie, he knew what he was hiding from.
“We aren’t sending him back, even without knowing where he came from he is terrified. Xisuma, False, he said he would rather be perma-killed.” Even without the ability to see their faces the silence that fell over the room said it all. Perma-death was the one thing everyone feared, having your code, your very self written out of existence. You became a just hazy memory to the people who once held you dear, family, friends, anyone who had ever met you would forget you almost entirely within a few days.
“Firstly we have no plans to do that unless you become a threat, and secondly if we send you away we would make sure to send you somewhere we know is safe. Despite your sudden and strange arrival we have no intentions to harm you, we aren’t cruel.” The admin explains.
“And, we wouldn’t be forcing you to leave before we were sure that it would be safe for you and that you were all healed up.” Keralis adds.
“However we would need to hold a server vote to determine if you can stay after, and that vote would require everyone to agree that you can stay.” False adds.
‘Thank you, I won’t cause any trouble. You won’t even notice me, I’m not difficult at all.’ The ex-watcher? he is pretty sure that’s accurate, pulls his knees to his chest for some additional comfort despite it making it harder to sign and hurting a fair amount. There was something strangely comforting about that position that he didn’t fully understand, feeling vaguely familiar.
“He is thanking us and saying he wont cause trouble or be difficult. Even though he doesn’t need to thank us for the bare minimum.” He could feel the disapproving look he was getting even without the ability to see it.
“Well for now that is all the questions we had for you, Scar will probably be back soon to check on you and bring some more potions so you can heal up. And he’ll probably enjoy having a captive audience to infodump to, his shift will be over in about an hour and then Mumbo will be staying with you.” Xisuma explains.
“And I will come by tomorrow to interpret for you. Right now though back to bed, Sashwammy carry me.” And after a few moments and an exaggerated sigh he can hear two sets of footsteps walk away and what he could only assume was a very happy Keralis.
“I’m back! And I bring regen potions and TPN. Oh and Falsie let me know that you don’t talk, which is great because I’ve been told I talk too much. Before I talk to much let me just hook them up, I don’t really get why we have to do this through the IV still now that you’re up but I’m not the expert on being healthy so.” He could hear some shuffling around before a quiet click. “Annnnnd there! You should hopefully be feeling that soon. I know potions make me really tired so if you fall asleep no worries, I won’t be here when you wake up but Mumbo has next shift and he’s great! He’s our vampire of a tech nerd, and he handles most of our comms.” Despite the encroaching sleep his brain was brought back to awareness at the mention of this Mumbo being a Vampire, they were rare as is but almost never welcome on servers because of their tendency to get bitey when they were hungry. “-nd he builds really cool doors and vaults that feel right out of a fever dream. He’s fun and a little spacey but that’s just another reason to love having him.” The words started to fade out as sleep fell over him and he drifted away into sleep.
As he began to awake once more the world felt hazy, faintly he could hear tapping and what he thought was the clacking of buttons. Groaning the deep ache in his back returned with a passion.
“Glad to see you slept well mate, you scared the living daylights out of us. I’m Mumbo he/him, unfortunately I don’t know how to sign and Keralis’ class on signing isn’t until tomorrow. Apparently he needs more supplies for it and honestly I’m a tad scared for what that means. Anyhow I’m once again getting distracted, I was wondering if I could ask you some questions and you could nod or shake your head to answer. And of course you don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to you can just, just, just, I’m not sure actually what you can do. Look annoyed at me?” A new voice rambled, did everyone here exclusively communicate by ramble? He attempted to shrug and immediately gasped in blinding pain, well he supposed it didn’t really count as blinding if he couldn’t see to begin with.
“Sorry mate, we can’t give you more potions for a little while. Would you like a hand sitting up for now? I can’t imagine that laying that way for days is comfortable.” He nodded shyly.
“Alright, is it alright if I grab onto you to help? Or would you prefer to grab onto me? Crackers that wasn’t a yes or no question, uhhhhhh nod if I can grab onto you to help you up.” Grian offered another nod in response, and within a few moments he could feel hands gently squeezing his shoulders and pulling him into a seated position.
“There you go mate, is that more comfortable?” Mumbo asks gently, getting a small nod in response.
“Alright questions… Ooh I was curious about this since they mentioned you can’t speak. Sorry that sounds really insensitive. I was wondering if you can whistle?” He cocked his head in confusion before letting out a sharp clear series of melodic whistles.
“That’s wonderful! I had heard that parrot avians can whistle beautifully, and as it turns out that was right. It sounds nice, I bet Ren would love to hear that he’s absolutely mad when it comes to music.” That was good to know, he could work with being a parrot avian. Outside of human only worlds passive hybrids faced very little harassment, and given how common avians were he wouldn’t be too much more suspicious than he already was. And they were generally considered minimally threatening, he could definitely use that to his advantage.
“I think I’ve got another good one, do you have a favourite colour? Personally I really like purple and red.” He nods again and raises two fingers tentatively. “Two, you have two favourite colours?” A quick shake of the head. “No, okay… Oh, it was the second one! Your favourite colour is red! Like your jumper!” And in that moment he swears he can hear the vampire silently cheer by throwing his hands up.
“I don’t kn- oh! Wait you haven’t eaten yet, are you hungry? I’m sure I can scrounge something up for you.” Oh right without his powers to sustain him he had to eat, was that what the ache in his stomach was? He slowly nods.
“Alright I’ll go see what I can find stay he- just whistle if you need help.” He listens as the man walks away, his footsteps much lighter than Xisuma’s or False’s but louder than Scar’s and Keralis’, though similarly as bouncy as Keralis’.
Being alone gave him time to think, they hadn’t hurt him yet so he was probably safe until he recovered. He’d delt with those who preferred when he could fight back, hurting someone who couldn’t made them feel weaker. He could work with that, once he had recovered to their taste he had to fight back just enough for them to keep him around. Whatever they had in store for him it couldn’t possibly be as bad as what would be waiting for him if they sent him back, it didn’t matter how much they tried to lull him into a false sense of security. He wasn’t that stupid, but if it kept him safe a little longer he could pretend.