I AM SUDDENLY REMEMBERING IDEAS I HAD. WHICH MEANS I AM HYPER WITH IDEAS DOES ANYONE NEED ONE?! And realising they suddenly fit pretty well into the current main storyline.

@poweraph gave me permission to use her Stress/ Iskall brotp headcannon... That is in her random stories book, and written below.

THANK CHU SENPAI!

The tests with me begin! But this ain't a fancy enough way to reveal me to my soon-to-be family for Convex... So we're gonna need to amp it up next time. Ooo... I'm excited...

Headcannons in this chapter
-Stress has a very unique way of calming herself down after being... Well... Stressed. It's called making Iskall look fabulous. He finds it quite endearing too, and this is one of the main reasons he always tries joining in on their Girls-And-Joe hangouts (you cannot un-convince me that Iskall has been taught all da secrets of make-up by Stress, but she's still boss when it comes to it lol).
-I accept the group headcannon of Tango adoring dresses. I've seen so many super gosh darn adorable drawings of him in cute pastel/ bright, flaring colourful dresses. I love it. So does he.
-Python, along with Doc and Biffa, 'hates' (wink wink, on all o dem~) physical contact through affection. They claim it's because of the hybrid part/ bionic part of them not reacting well to close warmth. It's not. If anything, the hybrid/ bionic part could really do with some warmth- creepies and sneks and metal aren't exactly warm blooded. But alas, they've a reputation of cold-hearted fighters who definitely do not get flustered over the smallest affectionate touch.
-Python is also shorter than you'd expect. He's the around the same height all of the waifus (so... Grian, Jevin and Tango) and Stress. I don't know why but I picture him as the assumably nice and smol boi, that turns out to be the angry boi that says they'll fight you and will actually fight you.
————————————————————
The time had come to do a few tests with AC's 'power' and acting skills. If all went well, Convex would be free to unleash a wave of... Well... Let's just say that the server may or may not find a reason to start another civil war.

And if AC was good enough... Against absolutely everyone.

But would this anarchy even be able to happen? Let's see.

"So... What is it you actually want me to do, dads?" AC asked, lifting her head up from Scar's shoulder. Cub turned to look at her with a smile, and patted her ears affectionately, distracting her from seeing his evil smirk.

"We're just going to test a few things... With you. Me and Scar both know that you're a pretty good acter, especially with that skill you've got, but we wanted to know... If you could be able to act like any certain hermit... Without their usual personality." He stated, taking out a list of hermit's names with a strange adjective describing each one.

"So... Say for example... The second one of the list, um... Oh right. Could you act like Iskall if he were extremely..." Scar snickered at the word. "... Extremely 'fabulous'? Even just in front of one hermit for a minute?"

Cub handed the list to AC, who read it with a cheeky grin. The look on her face could've told anyone that she would be finding this very interesting.

(Author's note: I swear I put half of these names in a random name picker. Apparently the random name picker wanted to be wild. You'll see what I mean soon, especially with the last few...)

Time skop 000000000000000000000

False hummed to herself as she walked through the shopping district. It was a nice day, and the sky was blue, with only a few clouds in the-

Ok, what was that?

... A moderately sized, man-made cloud hung about ten blocks above ground. False decided to check it out.

Once on top, she saw three large notice boards, with titles on top. The first read 'Pop-de' in bold, excited caps. The second read 'Aimvite', in fancier writing. The last only read 'Services', in simple lettering.

"Huh... Wonder what this is..." False thought out loud, wondering if she should ask someone else.

At that moment, Stress appeared beneath her, walking quickly.

That was convenient- the sweet, motherly hermit may be able to help, and if she wasn't, she'd be bound to try and help solve it together.

"Hey, Stress! Do you know anything about this cloud thing up-"

"No! Now don't bother me, I'm really busy right now!" Stress grumbled, dismissing False with a wave of a hand. The blonde hermit choked on her next response, waving uselessly as Stress flew away.

"... I guess... I'll go ask someone... Else? And warn anyone I find not to disturb Stress today..." She muttered, flying off in the opposite direction.

(Author's note: New perspective brought to you by an angry Stressy)

A few minutes after she left, Tango walked out of his own shop after restocking it. He too noticed the giant cloud thing and checked it out, having a similar reaction to False. Perhaps he should spread the news about this thing... Starting with either Zed, or Imupls-

Hold on, was that Iskall?

Tango's attention was quickly diverted to, ok yep that was Iskall... But what was he wearing...?

The swede's usual skin now donned a studded leather jacket and dark ripped jeans, alongside what looked to be... A cutlass in his hand and a... Pirate hat? Oh, and make-up. Gosh, that chartreuse eyeshadow was killer... And would go well with a dress that he owned...

He may as well ask Iskall about this weird cloud anyway.

"Iskall! Do you have something to do with this weird cloud thing I'm standing on?" Tango yelled, gesturing down at the said weird cloud thing.

Iskall looked up and chuckled, shaking his head. "Well, ahoy there, Tango, my rocking redstone fella! Unfortunately, tah answer ye question, no, I don't, hon. I be busy workin' on the stage and she's for me next rad show, I ain't seen this floaty thing until just now. Ooo, I best be going now though, I'll spy yah later, traaa!"

He started to walk away, with swagger and sass and a swing of his hips.

Tango couldn't tell if Iskall was trying to be a charismatic pirate or some sort of hippie rockstar. Either way, his new accent, on top of his already existing one, made his voice sound incredibly deep. He had to tell Zed and Impulse about this now... There was just one last thing to ask before he would...

"Hold up Iskall, could I ask... How'd you get your eyeshadow so nice?"

"... Tango, Tango, Tango... A man like me never reveals 'is make-up secrets!"

"Oh come on!"

(Author's note: New perspective brought to you by fabulous, sassy pirate rockstar Iskall)

On the other side of the server, Zed was busy minding his own business, around his new subzero bed. He'd just completed it and was rather happy with how it'd turned out, though he didn't remember placing a sign over there...

He flinched at the sight of it.

"... 'Your new bed is super cool'" Zedaph read. "... I appreciate the compliment but... Who are you?"

Again, flinching, he started looking around to see if he could spot the perpetrator.

A snicker came behind him. Another sign had appeared behind him.

"'Don't be so cold, Zed! I've just been dying to see your new bed!'? Wha- Who are-?!"

Another sign.

Another flinch.

"'I'll give you a clue. If looks could kill, I'd be three times dead.'- THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SEEENSE!"

At the sound of his frustration, a sniggering Cleo appeared out of nowhere holding a half-empty bucket of milk.

Again flinching at the sight of her, Zed sighed when he saw who it was

"Sorry, Zed, I couldn't help myself~! Oh, and... I think T- um, that someone's been messaging you... Check your C.P.S.T." Cleo hummed, sauntering away with a smile. Actually, she may be right...

Fumbling with his device, Zed found out that he hadn't suddenly developed a flinching habit. It was his C.P.S.T, vibrating because he'd put it on silent... Ohhh...

Tango had been messaging both him and Impulse, but he'd bet a stack of diamonds that Impulse's device was again dead...

Tango: Yo, there's something in the shopping district, and Iskall's being weird.

Tango: Hello? Either if you know what the big cloud thing is? Or does it belong to either of you?

Tango: HELLLLLO? EITHER OF YOU THERE?!

Tango: ... Oh, are... You two busy? Oh... Um... That's... That's ok... I... I guess... I'll just... Ask you later...

Zed: TANGO! I'm sorry, I forgot I put this on silent, and Impulse's C.P.S.T is probably just dead again!

Tango: ...

Zed: I'm sorry! Oh right, I haven't been to the shopping district today, and I haven't seen Impulse around. Let's go get him and you can show us what it is, how about that?

Tango: ... Thanks, Zed. I-I'll meet you at Imuplse's?

Zed: See you at Imuplse's!

(Author's note: New perspective brought to you by cheeky Cleo)

What happened? What exactly happened? What exactly happened for X to get to this point...?

He was literally just checking out some code, and how some of it would change in the new update when he spotted Ren walking outside... But it didn't look like Ren. Well, it looked like Ren, but not like Ren...

Ok, a better explanation would be... Ren... But... Emo...

There wasn't really any other way of saying it... And boy was Ren dressed exactly like the stereotypical image...

Swept over hair, black jacket, black leather trousers, black shoes... Were those... Piecings too- ok never mind they were just small ball magnets magnetised through his ear. The bleeding black eyeliner was real though, and apparently so was the black dye he'd put in his hair and fur.

(Author's note: Ok, it's not actually real dye, I just... Didn't change my own hair/ fur colour lol.)

Ren stood silently to the side, writing something into a book. Oh good grief, as if things weren't weird enough already...

Apparently, there was some commotion going on with a giant cloud of sorts in the middle of the shopping district too. Xisuma though that if he, very quietly, walked out through the back, he'd be able to avoid... Whatever idiocies Ren was up to.

He thought wrong.

"Xisumavoid. Admin of our humble server."

X froze at the sound of his name. Ren was staring directly at him, book and quill held in each hand like some sort of holy object.

And now we've gotten back to the present.

"I ask you to join me. Join the dark, safe side of shadows, where we will live in tranquility until our inevitable, bitter death-"

DING!
DING!
DING!
DI-
Xisumavoid was shot by Xisumavoid

"... Well..." 'Ren' chuckled, storing away the book and quill quickly into his inventory. "You could've just flown away, but hey, anything for our darling admin to notice my cloud..."

(Author's note: New perspective brought to you by emo Ren)

Wels had cancelled his visit to Biffa (which was slightly upsetting- he wanted to spend a little more time with the cute- COOL! Cool bot) to check out the 'weird cloud thing' in the middle of the shopping district, as the other hermits had now dubbed it.

Along the way, he was also warned trough several messages to look out for a certain few members of the server acting strangely... Though, those warning messages were met with a lot of confusion. The knight decided to ignore them until he saw proof of strange happenings himself.

As it turned out, he wasn't the only one who was visiting the cloud...

When he got there, he found that what some of the hermits had said were truth. Sure enough, Wels had been able to land on a giant cloud with three notice boards on it. The names were news to him though, and he'd yet to see any signs of 'strange acting her-'

"Ooooo! They were right!"

... That... Could not have been who Wels thought it was... No way...

But it was.

"Oh, hello, Wels. How are you today?" TFC said, waving at him and flashing a bright smile. That was more normal... Besides, it was the mischievous Tango and Zed who were on about 'weird hermits'. Even though False had said something about a 'certain someone being a little stressed' as well, Wels couldn't really see TFC being either of those.

He certainly didn't look stressed out either.

"Oh... Hello, TFC. Did you come from your bunker to check out this cloud too?"

"Yup! I've nothing to do with it, but it's suuuper exciting to see all of you create new things!" TFC laughed, blue eyes twinkling. Wels awkwardly laughed along, not used to seeing the older hermit so... Excited. "Have you heard of what some of you have been getting up to too?"

Did TFC, the 'calm grandad of the server', almost just squeal? Ok, Wels was now feeling extremely awkward. The knight nodded and half-grinned uncomfortably, backing up and falling off of the entire cloud. Luckily, he was able to pull up at the last second, and scarpered at once.

"... I'm getting too old for this... Oh my gosh, you have no idea how long I've waited to say that."

(Author's note: New perspective brought to you by excited TFC)

Mumbo heard about the cloud and the 'strange acting' hermits at around about the same time Wels did. He, being Mumbo, had obviously not interacted with too many of the mentioned hermits and didn't plan on getting involved in the fight of accusations going on in the group chat. Though he was surprised that X was now contributing to the arguement, instead of immediately debunking it.

From what he could tell from the jumble of angry, confused and incredulous messages he was getting, a few hermits had gone to the shopping district and saw a strange cloud build. That was usually around about where they met another, strange-acting hermit, with the exception of Zedaph and X.

Oh, Grian's just put a message in. One that was lost very quickly in the swarm of others, but Mumbo was just about able to read the short- oh no. He's said what Mumbo thinks he's said, hasn't he?

Grian: I'm going to check the cloud out.

The calmer hermit shook his head in disbelief. Of course Grian was going, despite what was currently going on. And of course he was going after him, why didn't he see this coming sooner...

As Mumbo flew through the air, he couldn't help but a little paranoid: he had actually taken off perfectly, had the right amount of rockets and elytra durability and not yet crashed into somethi-

CRASH!

Mumbo and the mystery hermit both fell to the ground with a thump. Luckily, neither were too far off of the ground and were able to recover quickly (though Mumbo definitely felt a lot sorer around his hip).

"Ow... I'm sorry, Mumbo, are you ok?" A German accent asked. Doc?

Sure enough, it was Doc that had crashed into him mid-flight.  The tamer hermit still did a double take anyway.

"O-Oh n-no-no! It's -um- I-It's fine, Doc, it was probably my fault, I wasn't looking because I was so focused on getting to the cloud to stop- oh shoot!" He stuttered, panicking and starting to run off at the end of his sentence, completely forgetting that using elytra was still an option.

Doc blinked before chasing after him, tripping once but carrying on regardless. "H-Hey, who're you trying to stop, dude? Do you need he-EL-p?"

Mumbo heard Doc stumble again in the middle of saying 'help'. He was now slightly concerned that he had somehow passed on his spooniness onto the collected, deadly Doc. Maybe if he sped up, he could... Maybe stop injuring the creeper hybrid and save Grian too.

"I-um- n-no it's fine, Doc, I've-" Mumbo felt one of his elytra wings slap against his leg, and realised he could still fly. He took off at once, again almost crashing into a random shop. "I've g-OT- this!"

'Doc' giggled cheekily, unconsciously rubbing 'his' now sore side.

(Author's note: New perspective brought to you by klutzy Doc)

For goodness' sake, he couldn't deal with this...

And if anyone saw this, he'd be forced to personally kill them. Many times over... What had gotten into Jevin? Jevin, out of all people...

Python was bombarded with a surge of messages, all from different hermits. Some looked to be caught in viscous banter and wild accusations, and the others seemed to be plain confused. He was so distracted by the attack of funny death threats and promises to murder others on his C.P.S.T that he wasn't able to spot a very different kind of attack.

Jevin.

Hugging the life out of him. No, seriously, Python was finding it a lot harder to breathe, and Jevin almost tackling him over did not help. The slime was laughing wildly at Python's part shocked and part angry response. Also flustered beyond belief with how nice the juxtaposing cool warmth felt against his scaly skin... But Python would never admit to liking warmth. Or hugs. Or physical affection at-

AAAAAANYWHO!

"Jevin what the HE-"

"Even though you're gonna use a bad word, I'm still gonna hug you~!"

"JEVIN WHAT THE HE- STOP!" Python screeched, blush flaring up in anger. "G-Go BOTHER WELS, OR-OR BIFFA, OR SOMETHING!"

Though he couldn't see it, 'Jevin's' eyes widened. Oh... So Python did know, hm? This would be important in the future...

"Like whaaat?"

It was then that Python remembered what the vibrating thing in his (now a bit slimy) pocket was.

"L-LIKE-THAT-GIANT-CLOUD-THING-I-DON'T-KNOW-JUST-GET-OFF-OF-ME!" He yelled, all in one breath. Jevin pouted, but let go, patting Python on the shoulder before flying off. The back of his jacket was now pretty drenched in slime (and Jevin made no move to clean it off...). His laugh was still audible, even in the sky.

What about Python, I hear you ask? Well, let's just say that the slight war going on in the comments suddenly got a whole lot worse...

(Author's note: New perspective brought to you by overly affectionate Jevin)

What was going on? Firstly, Wels had said he would be checking out a 'weird cloud thing', then only five minutes later flew straight through his (thankfully open) window. Next, Jevin had very speedily joined them, though he actually knocked on the door this time.

Furthermore, apparently this was because TFC was acting like an excited schoolgirl, and Python was trying to kill Jevin for some reason he didn't know about.

The hermit group chat was not helping in the slightest either, as there seemed to be a full on wild-accusation-war escalating...

Well, whatever was going on, Biffa was going to protect Wels and Jevin from it, no matter what it was... Though he doubted either should be so scared.

A timid sounding knock came from the door. Jevin yelped and hid behind Wels, who dutifully kneeled in front though he looked equally as petrified. Biffa sighed, ambling to the door (with his sword in hand just in case) and opening it easily.

He was met with a happy looking Joe.

"Salutations, to you, my undeterred claret companion! I hath crossed that which divides us with lithe, fervent aero-dynamics to also agglomerate within thy accommodation!" The American said, gesturing towards were Wels and Jevin were huddled together.

Biffa blinked blankly. What had Joe even said? Were- Were half of those words... Even words?

"My, my, how contrite the endeavours of such a poignantly opulent day!" Joe tutted, gesturing vaguely around. "Our most adulated comrades are being dreadfully vociferous and their vocabulary is drifting from the habitual colloquial spiel. It is discombobulating, to say the very least."

Wels and Jevin looked just as concerned as Biffa did. Until Jevin's eyes lit up and he yelled out. "I THINK HE'S ONE OF THEM!"

Biffa slammed the door shut in surprise, effectively blocking Joe off. A mutter of 'rude' and him walking away were heard. The bot inside was immediately then attacked by grateful hugs by a slime and a knight.

(Author's note: ... I may or may not have forgotten to include Python and Biffa in the hermit fam. I feel very dumb. Sooo... How would Python be as a crazy uncle? And would Biffa be a grandad, or an uncle, or just a dad I- H E L P M E H-)
————————————————————
AC gritted her teeth as she transformed back into herself. The sound of bones cracking accompanied her, though everything was fine, and she smirked along with the triumphant expressions on the Convex's faces.

"Well, it worked individually... But what I wanna know is how the server took it." She snickered, stretching out like a cat. As she stared at her wolf ears, she shook herself violently starting from the head downwards. A new pair of siamese cat ears and a long, thin tail came from this action.

Scar's face lit up. His eyes seemed to have literally stars in them, but he was interrupted by Cub bringing out his C.P.S.T.

"Have a look for yourself... It's been quite entertaining to read." The older hermit stared, passing his device over. Cub had left the chat at the start of the shenanigans, so as to let the young girl be able to read it all.

And boy was it eventful in the group chat... And it went on for a long time. AC scrolled through many second guesses, screams, death-threats, confused asks and failed attempts at calming others down until she finally got to the end... Where it was still going on...

Biffa: Joe, can you speak normal English now?

Joe: What do you mean?

False: STRESS YOU ARE GETTING MAD RIGHT NOW!

Stress: NO I AM NOT-

Doc: I never left the stock exchange today!

Mumbo: I-I'm so confused- I swear I saw-

Grian: I've found my C.P.S.T again! It went missing for a bit, it's in one of my random chests though... I don't know who sent that message though.

Ren: As if I'd wear emo clothes!

Xisuma: Ren, I SAW you.

Joe: What do you mean???

Jevin: YOU'RE ONE OF THEM!

Python: SO ARE YOU!

Iskall: Me and Stress have been in the labs the entire day. I literally have no clue as to what's going on.

Tango: So you don't know how do use eyeliner?

Iskall: ...I never said that.

Cleo: I followed all of this up to the cloud thing... That I still haven't seen.

Zed: You were the one that pranked me!

TFC: Ok, settle down!

Wels: TFC, no offense, but I could really say the same to you...

Impulse: MY THING LITERALLY JUST CHARGED TANGO AND ZED ARE WITH ME BUT I STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON!

AC snorted in laughter at what she'd caused, before realising something important. "Oh, the sweet darlings... W-Wait, you guys have been playing along in the chat, right?"

Both vexes nodded, thankfully, though the girl added a new 'confused' message from Cub just in case anyway.

"Now, I know X, and he's going to get everybody in for a group meeting really soon. While me and Scar attend to that, you're going to make use of that third board you've put up and create the thing to go along with it. How long do you need?" Cub asked, taking back his C.P.S.T.

AC hummed, holding up her first finger.

"One day?"

She shook her head. Bewildered, Scar double checked.

"One... Hour?!"

"I could always do it in less, but I wanna give it a little actual effort. Makes it feel more... Nice? I guess?" She replied factually, oblivious to the vexes' still bewildered expressions. "So... Please try and get me around that time, dads! I promise to make it good!"

And the agreement was done. Though, just before she slipped away to do her new mission... Scar grabbed onto her hand gently. Cub's gaze flickered upwards in understanding, though the small child didn't.

"Wwwwwhat's up-"

"Can I pet your ears?" The builder asked, stars reappearing in his eyes. This was new- usually AC would request this.

She smiled brightly and nodded in excitement. "Duh! You can pet me whenever, dad!"

Needless to say, Xisuma's announcement of the predicted group meeting was muffled by quiet  purring and louder awes.

Though... What were the notice boards for anyway?
————————————————————
(Before the first transformation...)

"Juuust one thing first. I'm going to build three liiittle boards above the shopping district, and I'm calling them notice boards."

"Alright, I see no issue in that. But... What will they be used for?"

"The first one will be called the... Pop-de (Popped) board? Like popular demand? It's for whatever advertisement etc. you want, and you just pin a poster on or something."

"That's a good idea for new shops."

"Thanks. The second one will be called the... Aimvite (Aim-vite) board, like aimed and invite. It'll be for special events, which... I have a few plans for. Just put the event, and whomever you'll allow in. Yes, some can be VIP or first-come-first-serve. Yes, these ones obviously include pranks."

"We'll add to that board immediately. Our little Architechs could do with some reminding on who's boss..."

"And the third will be a 'service board', supposedly used for asking for the services of... Well... C... Can you guys keep a secret?"

"... Sure, sweetie... What is it?"

"... I think it's time for a new pranker to make their stand on this server."
————————————————————
Author's note
Me: (-Is talking about the hermit ships and explaining them-) Oh, there's this other one that's poly too, and gay, and I sorta like thinking of it as... More medieval protectors, with their roles.

IRL mate: What?

Me: So... You have like the waifu princess, right?

IRL mate: Yeah...

Me: And the waifu princess is protected by the knight!

IRL mate: Oh right, I get-

Me: Then you have the fighter that protects the knight and the princess.

IRL mate: Wait what.

Me: He's like the dominate one. He's the true protecter, of the waifu princess and the knight husbando. He protects the princess and the knight that protects the princess also.

IRL mate: (0~0''')

I got y'all a nice 4000+ word chappie. I promise the next part of it won't be as long lol.

Oh and

Just a quick input before y'all reach the end if dis chap...

Ok WHEN DID WE GET TO 1K READS?!

WHAAAAA?!

I HAS SENPAI AUTHORS FREEEENS!!! ALL OF YOU, TANK CHUUU! HUGS FOR EVERYONE!

-hugs-