first time you'll be seeing mah man Mumbo in a piece, i struggled with his deer leggies. I think I should mention this but Grian's able to change his fur patterns, colours or such, that is why he's seen as two different coloured cattos in two different works. Alrighty, onto the chapter >:D

S⚍リ↸𝙹∴リ

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The group of Hermits who'd found Grian injured carried him out, seeing as he passed out.

They flew themselves to Stress's ice-castle, seeing as that base probably being one of the safer ones to help Grian. Stress had quickly fixed up a room for him, having some of the medical informed Hermits look over him, while the others were pushed out to get back to whatever they were doing before.

Outside of the door sat Mumbo Jumbo, he sat there, leaning against the door and trying to listen into the conversation behind the door. He wanted to know what was going on with his best friend, even more than the others did, what was Grian hiding from us?

Grian had woken up around 30 or so minutes after he was brought to the castle, he was pretty much fine and was let go after a final check by False. "Wait, before you leave Grian... What happened down there? you said someone was there with you... what did you mean?" False turned back to him, raising her eyebrow in a questioning look, "o-oh uh something was down there, I think it was a-a watcher?" Grian shrugged as he got up from the bed. The female hermit's face turned from questioning to shock, "wait... a watcher?". She received a nod, she rubbed her face and sighed "Don't worry about it, go on and do whatever you wanted to do", Grian tilted his head a bit but walked to the door.

He exited the room, leaving a concerned Falsesymmetry standing there. She turned to the door, lost in thought,,,

somethings off about him and this situation...

I just can't put my finger on it...

Grian flew off, being careful about the amount of time he spent in the air, turns out; getting thrown against the wall, the floor and ceiling can mess up your back! Due to that, a few feathers had been torn or ripped out of his wings, causing tiny balance issues while flying.

The small hermit didn't exactly know where he was going but he just continued flying till he saw something that caught his eye...

A field...

not just a field, but a field with red flowers and poppies sprouting out of the grass.

Grian let himself plummet towards the ground, swooping up at the last minute so to not hurt himself any farther, he landed on his feet then began walking deeper into the field. He hadn't noticed the time while flying, as now the sun was setting, Grian sat down in the bright grass, pulling his knees into his chest. The hybrid looked deeply at the sun, forgetting his surroundings just enough to not hear Mumbo flying in behind him.

"Hey Grian"

Grian jumped at his voice, turning around right away "Oh hey M-Mumbo!". Mumbo sat next to him, giving him a smile. "What'cha doin' out here?" Mumbo asked as he took off his suit-coat, Grian turned back to the distance "just wanted to get out of my base for a bit..". 

It wasn't a complete lie but it was a bit of a stretch..

Mumbo sighed, putting his coat onto his out-stretched legs, "Can I.. ask you something?". "Hm?" Grian turned his head a bit, "False mentioned that a watcher appeared in the basement while you were in it and attacked you... why is the room down their?". 

Grian thought for a second "well... a few months ago, I decided I wanted to learn about non-player entities, I wanted to do it alone so I created a room down there. I found some old books about them and magic that some can do, I didn't want everyone to now about them or for it to fall into the wrong hands so I just continued to do things down there... I guess the Watchers found out about it and are after them...".

Mumbo stared blankly at him for a second, processing this new information Grian had given him. "Oh" He nodded and turned away, both now looking in the direction of the setting sun. 

Grian's hand started to shake slightly, he wanted him to know, he wanted to be more open to him... "Mumbo..?", said male tilted his head a bit "Yeah?". "uH.. well.. I'MASHAPESHIFTER-" Grian blurted out, afterwards he rubbed his face. Mumbo shrugged "Oh, that's cool" Grian looked at him, a bit shocked at his chill reaction. "That cat you guys saw in the basement a few days ago was me by the way.." Grian admitted, "kinda thought that" the moustached hermit piped in.

The two sat there for a bit, not saying anything...

Grian felt himself shift, leaning down into Mumbo's lap.

The suited hermit looked down at his friend who'd became a small honey brown and brownish white coloured cat, he gently ran his hands against the back of Grian

They sat there for a few more minutes, it seemingly feeling like only a few seconds before Mumbo carefully got up with his sleeping cat friend in his arms. The deer reattached his elytra, taking off while wasting a few rockets, carrying the cat close to his chest.

Mumbo let himself glide across the skies with his friend, occasionally using a rocket or two to blast off when his last rocket begun wearing off.  I know he's still hiding something but... this is something nice...

The hermit and Grian landed, Grian had woken up by now. Mumbo placed him down on one of his many shulker boxes, waving at him before taking off again.

Grian stood there in his cat form, staring off into nothing...

Could he tell them?

would he still be allowed here?

was it too late?