"Say... Has Joe Always Had Those Colorful Floaty Eye-thingies Around His Head?" Scar Asks, Absentmindedly

"Say... has Joe always had those colorful floaty eye-thingies around his head?" Scar asks, absentmindedly stroking the fletchings of an arrow.

"I don't think so?" answers Grian, perched on the railing of the HotGuy Tower. "You hear that clinking of chains around him more often these days, too."

The two are silent for a moment, watching Joe play Beef's card game with Cleo. Even from this distance, they can occasionally catch a flash of color from one of the little floating eyes near him.

"Why do you think that is?"

"I think it's Them", Grian says.

"What do you mean "Them"?"

"Eh, you know. Just Them. You know what I mean, right? They can change us, sometimes. Haven't you noticed?"

"I really don't get what you're talking about."

"I wasn't like this-" for a moment Grian is surrounded by a soft purple glow and a halo of eyes, not in all colors of rainbow like Joe's, but purple like the light around him "-before They decided I was, either."

"But I thought that was the Watcher thing?"

"I mean, it sorta was. But it wasn't. I wasn't like this when I first became a Watcher. This happened when They decided that's what Watchers are like."

"Joe's not a Watcher, though, is he?" asks Scar, frowning.

"Nah, he's Something Else."

"You know, it's weird, but recently I've felt like something's changed", Scar says. "Like I don't know what, but something's different. Dreams of like, arenas and fighting people, some of them ones I've never even met. And it's like there's thousands of voices in the back of my head, cheering me on. It's very distracting."

"Yeah, I think I know what you mean."

"Is that Them too?"

"Probably. Almost definitely, actually."

"I feel like I'm sort of racing, competing with Joe, and I'm not even sure what it's about."

"Yeah, that's Them playing games. You don't have to pay too much attention to it, if you don't want to. It might not be a good idea, anyway. Sometimes They like attention, and then sometimes they run and scatter and hide if you give Them any, and you never know what it'll be this time." Grian shrugs. "The good news is though, if Joe has changed because of Their game, he might change back once it's over or They get bored of the game."

"Might?"

"Yeah, might. Or it might stick. They're fickle creatures, it's hard to tell beforehand."

"You know an awful lot about them", Scar points out.

"That's because They used to be Watchers. Until They decided They weren't, but I still was, and made Watchers be something else instead and became not-Watchers."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"You're right. It doesn't. I think that's how They like it."

Before Scar can ask more questions, Grian spreads his wings and takes off.