It was getting late. Grian had several arrows sticking out of various limbs, and he was pretty sure he had at least a half-dozen spider bites. Clearly, he had not lit the place up well enough. He checked his inventorial pouch and was glad to see he had a few spare torches, which he dotted around the area. It didn't help with the preexisting monsters that had already come out, but it did provide a bit of light, and for that Grian was grateful. It's hard to build when it's impossible to see what it actually looks like.

The moon hung in the sky, casting a weak glow over the area. Along with the stars, it illuminated Grian's figure as he stood, his hair ruffled and his eyes baggy from fatigue. Having worked for the last few days straight, Grian was rightfully very tired. What's worse, he heard the shrieking of phantoms circling overhead. When was the last time he had slept? He couldn't really remember. The determination of building had kept him running for the last few days, and he had hardly thought about sleep.

The brit realized that he had also not gone to visit Mumbo since he had returned either. Grian decided that he would do that... In the morning, that is. He brushed off his hands and stepped back from his work. Digging, as Grian found, is exhausting, especially when the tnt supply has run out. Quite a few broken tools lay around, discarded as he finished with them. Grian gathered his various shulker boxes and materials and threw them into his pouch to be dealt with later. He made his way through his mansion and to his room, where he clambered into his bed. In a matter of minutes, he had drifted off into one of the first peaceful sleeps he had had in a good while.

The next morning, Grian got out of his bed as usual. He grabbed some golden carrots from his chest and nibbled on one as he pulled on his elytra and other gear. Making his way to the front of his mega-base, he pulled put a few rockets and shot into the air. He sailed over the jungle, staring down to find Mumbo's base. It hadn't changed too much since the last time Grian had visited, but it was clear that Mumbo was making up for lost time. Something Grian noticed, however, was that Mumbo had seemed to have slighy steered away from the ruined theme. It was too bad; Grian had rather liked it.

Instead, little spots of iron and white concrete had begun to form along the edges, reminiscent of Mumbo's very bright and mechanical base from last 'season', on the other side of the 'Season Portal', as Xisuma had called it.

But, Grian wasn't one to judge, and he flew into the center of it. Looking around, there wasn't a sign of the Hermit. Where could he be? Grian ran over the possibilities in his mind. He eventually came to the conclusion that his friend was probably at his industrial district.

So, after many wrong turns and somehow managing to arrive back at his own mansion, Grian finally made his way to the industrial district, where he, to his relief, found a very tiny, very flustered Mumbo Jumbo. Grian was about to swoop in to greet his friend when he heard a crack, and suddenly he went pummeling towards the ground at full speed. "Ack!" he screeched, his limbs flailing wildly in the air. He must not have checked how bad his elytra was. Come to think of it, he had been using it a good bit over the last coup-

Grian crashed face-first into the ground with a crack as he felt a sharp pain in his neck and woke back up in his bed.

<Grian> fell from a high place

He glanced around at the familiar interior of his room with a groan. Grumbling, he dug out an extra elytra and rockets from a shulker box he had lying around in case of emergencies. The Did You Die boxes from before crossed Grian's mind for just a split second and Grian let out a chuckle. A small part of him wanted to start those up again; they were fun.

After another ten minutes of searching for Mumbo's district, he finally arrived, swooping down gracefully and landing-- on his feet, this time-- right in front of Mumbo, who stood atop a complicated-looking redstone build. He gazed upon the circuitry with disdain.

"Hey, Mumbo," Grian laughed. He was still somewhat embarrassed about earlier but pretended it never happened. "What are you working on?"

Mumbo jumped a bit; apparently he hadn't noticed Grian's presence. "Oh, hi, Grian," he said quickly, turning to the Hermit. His hollow voice made it clear that he was distracted by his machine. "I'm working on a chorus fruit farm. Something doesn't seem to be linking up correctly, though. This observer should be detecting when the plant grows, but it doesn't seem to be doing so." He folded his arms as he stared at the contraption.

Grian nodded slowly, pretending he knew what Mumbo was talking about. He was trying to be more redstone-savvy this season, but he was nowhere near even understanding his friend's machinery. However, as he glanced around at the mess of reds and grays and purples, he noticed something that even he could tell was off.

"Hey, is that observer backwards?" The instant he said it, he felt stupid. It was probably some kind of fancy redstone circuitry. Some kind of double-twist, zero-tick magic redstone torch piston- Grian didn't know where he was going with that. "I mean, that's coming from me, with limited redstone knowl-"

Mumbo cut Grian off. "Huh? Where?" He ran his eyes over his machine warily. Grian pointed to where he meant. An observer had it's light bit facing towards the plant, and its face was staring right at the trail of redstone dust leading towards the rest of the machine. Mumbo stared at it blankly, as if he didn't register what Grian was trying to say. "What?"

Of course it's intentional, Grian ridiculed himself. Even so, he finished his thought. He'd sound even more silly if he just left it at that. "Aren't the eyes supposed to look at the plant? If it's supposed to be detecting it."

A moment of silence ensued, the two of them standing awkwardly. Mumbo stared at the observer, his brow furrowed, while Grian spaced out, twiddling his thumbs. Out of the blue, Mumbo burst out into laughter beside Grian. This spooked the brit, and he jumped. "What!?" Grian's voice squeaked as he yelped.

Mumbo shook his head, still laughing. "I would never have thought I'd need your help with a farm. You're right; it's definitely backwards." The brit quickly made his way across the contraption, stepping over spots of dust and being careful not to trip over extended pistons, to the observer, which he quickly turned around. He came back over to Grian. "Thanks for that."

Grian raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like Mumbo to just forget how redstone worked. "Mumbo, are you okay?" His voice rose in amusement as he crossed his arms, but it betrayed a hint of concern for his friend, even if it was relatively unreasonable.

The redstoner sputtered over his words as he replied. "What? Why?" Now that Grian noticed it, Mumbo looked a bit out of shape. His hair was frayed and unbrushed and his suit was covered in dirt and the magic dust.  He looked down at his clothes and attempted to brush it off, but ended up smearing more redstone dust on his suit.  He looked up quickly, saying quickly, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Grian nodded slowly. "Mumbo, when was the last time you slept?" This caught the brit off-guard. He looked up quickly at the sky. Grian heard Mumbo mumble under his breath, What day is it again...?  "Mumbo-!" Grian couldn't really talk, seeing as he had stayed up for a few days straight, but at least he had slept last night. Mumbo, obviously, had not. And Grian didn't even know how much sleep he was getting while he was... wherever he was. 

"Okay, okay. I need sleep," Mumbo conceded, rubbing his neck. He paused for a moment. "...as soon as I finish this farm." He chuckled, but trailed off as he turned back to his machine. "Anyway, thanks for the assistance. Oh, by the way, I stuck your items in a chest over there." He distractedly pointed in the direction of a small chest sitting on the ground.

Grian wasn't done with Mumbo yet. "What have you been doing, anyway? What was your project?" He hadn't gotten an answer yet, but was hopeful this time. Maybe he'd have caught Mumbo off-guard and he'd share what his big secret thing was. Unfortunately for Grian, this was not the case as Mumbo just shrugged. 

"Oh, it's just a thing I'm working on. Got a bit caught up on it." The brit tried to cover his tracks, but failed as Grian continued to pry.

"Can I see it?" Grian asked this with a hopeful expression on his face. Come on, why couldn't Mumbo show him? 

Mumbo shook his head. "No, it's a... it's a secret. A surprise, kinda. Maybe? Doesn't matter, you aren't getting to it." He narrowed his eyes jokingly at the Hermit. "Especially not if you have any root vegetables on you."

Grian laughed. "Nope." Apparently he wasn't getting answers today. Soon, though. Soon he would. Another thought hit him. "Oh yeah, and what's up with your base? I thought you were going for the ruined theme this season." 

Mumbo shrugged. "I'm not sure, I just wasn't liking how it was turning out. Decided to try something new." He raised an eyebrow. "What, do you not like it?"

Grian shook his head quickly. He didn't want to appear to be criticizing his friend's work.  "No, I do. But 'new? ' Didn't you do that last season?" He tilted his head inquisitively as he asked Mumbo, waiting attentively for an answer. 

But, after another shrug and a dismissive, "I guess I just can't help it," from Mumbo, Grian gave up. The moustached man would keep his secrets for another day. So, he glided dramatically down from the machine, grabbed his stuff, and flew back up to Mumbo's level. "Alright, I'm going to go; I have some work to do. But make sure you get some sleep tonight!" Grian grinned as he waved and flew off. He did have some work to do, and that was to make a new shop.

-(Author's Rambling)-

Aight, another chapter done and out! An hour late, but better late than never :P 

Better a few minutes than than a few weeks

Anyway, see ya, and thanks for coming!