#should have had Grian's right wings both stretched and the upper left one curled instead haha man

[tubbytarchia]

Something something secret identity dragonshifter HotGuy and CuteGuy (thank you for the comm!) Some thoughts under cut

Ok they don't have to be secret identity (it's just too easy to make it that when they're alternative forms look completely different) but some form of dragon shenanigans? They're dragons now so they get slay powers by default but I wanted to give Scar something a little more, so he gets mechanical wing-like limbs that benefit him more than encumber him due to him having a very strong and sturdy build, and not needing to worry about flight (whereas eg Grian is very lightweight to be able to fly well and is better off without additions)

I REALLY wanted some way to replicate anything close to the Hotguy bow so there you go:

The mechanical limbs have full rotation etc so Scar can fuck around with them however he wishes

Grian can use his feathers as projectiles, comparable to bullets in strength with the speed at which he can hurl them, plus just crazy maneuverability and stuff I guess!!

And what exactly is dragon magic? Plot convenience that's what

[votederpycausemufins]

Alright, I got the second part of my vaccine, also got tested for the virus by my school (randomly chosen and it just so happened to be the same day as my vaccine appointment), safely met with my family, and then I’m like 50ish% sure I threw my back out? but it’s my upper back and not lower which is why I’m not sure.

So yeah, chapter is a bit short, but I wanted to get one out today.

@petrichormeraki @helleborusangel​

Mumbo tried to ignore everyone talking as he worked with Grumbot. He was using the handkerchief he normally kept on him to clean the redstone from his hands to clean up the robot. He had gotten a bit of the water that had been left in Tommy’s inventory to make the cloth damp and started carefully washing everything off Grumbot’s body, though some redstone was left behind. He frowned at how much was coming off onto the cloth and the fact that he needed to clean that off too. 

Slowly but surely, all the grime was washing off and being replaced with shiny metal. There were still dents and cracks, but just cleaning the robot up helped as an improvement. Mumbo dried any spots that were still wet to make sure no water got into Grumbot’s circuits before standing up and stretching, having been in an awkward pose to clean everything up with Grumbot refusing to do anything but stay curled up in a ball.

“How’s he doing?” Phil asked as Mumbo walked over.

“”Well, he’s clean at the very least. I don’t have anything to work on physical repairs and I’m terrified about what I’ll see when checking on the circuitry.” Mumbo looked around at the group. “Techno’s still not here?”

Phil shook his head. “I haven’t heard anything. It’s getting to the point I’m starting to worry. But trying to find him with everything going on won’t be the easiest thing. So we just hope he sends something back on where he is or wait until we can’t wait anymore.”

Mumbo nodded, and then the two of them were surprised as they got messages sent to their communicators.

[Eyes] X-T, Y-T, Z-T

“Do you think that’s-” Mumbo started.

“Techno’s coordinates? Possibly. So far whatever this is has been sending us help.”

“Take EX with you? I of course should be staying back here for Jrum.”

“I’ll probably be fine on my own.”

“He’ll make the trip faster. And if something is wrong, better to save time.”

The avian ended up relenting and walked over to talk to the helsmit. In a matter of seconds the two of them were gone and Mumbo went back over to Grumbot. He winced at the sparks that flew from the holes in Grumbot’s torso. Obviously he needed to at least get a look at what was going on in there. His hand moved to turn Grumbot off, but just before he could press the power button, he was stopped. “Please don’t.”

“Grum?” Mumbo asked quietly, not completely sure he heard Grumbot speak with how quiet the words were.

“C-can’t turn off. Th-that would b-be bad. N-No admin.”

Mumbo immediately pulled his hand away. That was right. Theseus had disappeared with Dream, so for now Grumbot being the console was likely the one thing keeping this world stable. Mumbo also quickly plugged Grumbot in to make sure it didn’t run out of power.

“Do you need anything?”

“I don’t know h-how to answer th-that.”

“Why not?”

“I-It’s confusing. And I-I’m tired.”

“Do you want to go into sleep mode?”

“I… I shouldn’t n-need s-sleep. O-only need b-battery.”

Mumbo hugged Grumbot. “It’s okay if you go to sleep. No one will get upset at you.”

Grumbot shook it’s head. “Need to f-fix first. T-Tommy not a-awake. Sh-should be. A-And f-fix t-time. C-can’t without-”

Mumbo held Grumbot closer. “You don’t need to do anything except rest. You’ve been through a lot, both you and your brother.”

“H-had to h-hurt him to h-help him. K-keep him a-away. D-didn’t know what w-was happening. Didn’t know wh-what else to do.”

“Well…” Mumbo wasn’t sure what to say. Jrum obviously hadn’t had the best experience while stuck here, but it wasn’t as bad as what happened to Grumbot. And for all the redstoner knew, Jrum could have ended up in the same situation as his brother if nothing had been done. “While  I don’t… fully approve with the methods… at the very least your brother is not… the worst he could be.”

Grumbot gave a slight nod before speaking again. “Is th-there anything you w-want Console to do?”

“What do you mean?” Mumbo asked, curious by the phrasing.

“What th-things need to b-be done?”

Mumbo frowned. “Grum, you don’t need to do anything. Please just go to sleep.”

There was a pause from Grumbot as it processed what was said, then went into sleep mode. Mumbo sighed in relief as he could feel Grumbot relax in his arms. He put the robot back down on the bed and tucked it in before checking on Grian and Jrum. After making sure they were all asleep, he collapsed in a chair.

“Are you doing okay?” Mumbo looked up to see someone who, because he was so tired, he thought was himself for a split second. 

“Tired. But to be completely honest, I’ve been more exhausted dealing with those three. I’m the one with impulse control. Not to be confused with The Impulse Control that Zed has. Hmm… maybe I’m more tired than I think. Have you ever tried a mustache?”

“I… don’t think I can grow one.”

Mumbo nodded. “Alright. What’s your name?”

“Ranboo.”

“The one Tubbo was worrying about, right?” Mumbo asked, but then didn’t give Ranboo a chance to answer. “And what does Tommy think of you?”

“I’m pretty sure we’re friends. Maybe. I tried what I could to keep him company. Even though I couldn’t be there.”

“Sounds good enough to me. Still unsure about him.” Mumbo gestured to Bad. “And what about him?”

“Uhh, I’m not sure to be honest. And I don’t think I would have it written down.”

Mumbo tilted his head slightly, trying to ignore the fact that just doing that made him feel a little dizzy. “Why would you need to write it down?”

“I don’t really have the best memory of things, so I write everything important to make sure I can’t lose it.”

“Well maybe you can visit and can get checked out in Hermitcraft. See if someone there can help you.”

Ranboo nodded, then was distracted as Michael came over and reached for his hand before pulling him away. Mumbo watched as the two left, Michael excited about seeing Techno, who had just arrived with Xannes. Philza didn’t seem to be back, which was mildly concerning, but at this point, the redstoner was a bit too tired to care and fell asleep.

Grian woke up with a start. He hadn’t quite had a nightmare, more just something in the dream startled him awake. He shifted slightly and realized that he was still holding Jrum in his arms, who was also asleep.

Carefully, the avian pulled away and got out of bed, making sure Jrum didn’t wake up. He looked over at the other beds and was glad to see it seemed Tommy had moved. The other bed was empty however, which worried Grian. He looked around more and found Mumbo asleep in a chair, but also without Grumbot.

There were voices from an adjacent room, and Grian was hoping his other son would be there. He tiptoed to not wake the others up, then peeked into the next room. Everyone was gathered around and talking. Well, Xannes was off to the side reluctantly playing with a Ziglin, but that was the only exception. The avian looked around a second time. He didn’t see Grumbot anywhere, and it looked like Phil was gone but Techno was in his place.

Techno. Grian didn’t care if they were related or not. He had been the one to cause this whole mess by killing his kids. And now one of them was missing again and here he was. For the second time that week, Grian had a sword to the piglin’s neck. He had moved fast enough that everyone jumped back in surprise at his sudden appearance.

“What is it this time?” He said in a bored tone which made Grian even angrier. Instead of saying anything, he just swung the sword, cutting into Techno’s arm. He attempted a second swing, but he was pulled back from behind by Xannes, leaving the avian flailing for escape, wings hitting just about anything they could.

“Calm down or I’ll break one of your arms.” The helsmit threatened as he managed to get Grian pinned on the ground. He then looked up at Techno. “Any clue why he’s acting like this?”

“He kidnapped Phil who said he was a Watcher. I went after Phil and made a few withers to get his attention. People started attacking, I attacked back. They were collateral. Didn’t realize they wouldn’t respawn right.”

“More like you didn’t care.” Grian growled from the ground. “First both the boys, then you were threatening NPG, and now you’re here and Grum isn’t!”

“What do you mean he isn’t here?” Bad asked, cutting into the conversation. “No one’s gone in or out of that room since we all came out here. Well, until you of course.”

“Then you weren’t paying attention.” Grian accused, but Tubbo stopped him.

“No, we’ve all been watching in case someone woke up, especially with what Techno found.”

“Found a way to kill my kids again?” Xannes sighed and twisted Grian’s arm a bit. The avian yelped at the sudden pain, and for a moment the helsmit was glad it seemed to have shut him up, before Grian managed to swipe his leg to make Xannes fall to the ground and pin him instead.

“Can you at least first hear what we found out? We think it’s related to Tommy’s condition.” Tubbo tried to offer, knowing that Grian seemed to like Tommy almost as much as the bots.

Grian hesitated, but then nodded. “Okay fine, but make it quick. I already saw you got him to move.”

“Wait, what do you mean he moved?” Tubbo asked, quickly moving to the extension room.

“Well he’s on his side now.” Grian explained, following behind, flaring his wings out when he felt crowded from behind as the others rushed to follow as well.

“Well we didn’t do that.” Tubbo said, going over to Tommy. “Oh, and looks like it might not have been Tommy either.” He looked back over to the avian. “Well it looks like you don’t have to panic about Grum anymore. He’s right here.”

Grian closed his wings back up so he could get over to Tubbo and Tommy. Once he got closer, he was able to see Grumbot curled up in the teen’s arms. The moment he saw the robot, Grian sighed, glad that nothing else bad had happened. He also then glanced back to Jrum to make sure he was still there, glad to see he was.

“See, everything’s alright.” Tubbo said, even though Grian could tell that wasn’t entirely true.

“What did you find out about Tommy then?”

Everyone left the sleeping area again to talk. “I went to check on my place when we got back.” Techno started to explain. “Not many people knew about it, so went to see if anyone was hiding there. It’s far off, so it could have been used as a hideout. Turns out I was right, and someone was there. But not willingly.”

“And that would be?” Grian asked, looking at the others to see if their expressions would tell him anything.

“After Wilbur died, he came back as a ghost, though it didn’t quite act like him. Preferred the name Ghostbur over Wilbur too. Well, he was there, but alive. And he wasn’t Wilbur. He was just an alive version of Ghostbur. Somehow he got revived and was in my house when it happened. Since then, he hasn’t been able to get out, no matter what he tries. He says it’s like an invisible wall.”

“And what’s that got to do with Tommy?”

“Obviously Ghostbur didn’t show up at his body, or else he wouldn’t be in my house. Tommy lost his last life before being revived, so there’s a good chance he’s in the same situation and we just have his body.”

“Then where is Tommy?”

“I can’t hit the button! It’s gonna crush me!” Tommy yelled out, unable to stop the flying machine he was currently in.

“Mine out the back!” Zedaph yelled, making Tommy realize that, yes, he could do that. He pulled out a pickaxe and broke through the pistons, slime blocks and observers, escaping just before the machine would have crushed him between itself and whatever was keeping him stuck. 

“Okay, your drill didn’t work.”

“Hmm, really thought that one would do it.” Zed replied, looking down at a napkin he had written a list on and crossed out one of the items. “Well! Next up we’re going to need some cows.”

“I do not want death by cow.”

“But they’re the perfect size for it.” Zedaph pouted, but crossed another thing off the list.

“Just give me the next idea!”

“Okay, so we’re just going to need you to use some minor telekinetic powers-”

There was an interruption as Scar arrived in tow with Cub. “Okay, I picked up all the magic crystals I think might be able to help. If that doesn’t work, Cub and I are fully prepared to try some vex magical shenanigans.”

“I’m not a fan of the word shenanigans, but whatever, let’s fucking try it!”

From there, the various hermits tried a number of ideas to get Tommy out, but none of them seemed to work. At the very least they learned that he could go into the minecart tunnel and all the way to Mumbo’s hobbit hole without trouble as well as the fact that Tommy seemed to be the only one affected, but it still wasn’t ideal. 

A few hermits stayed around to keep Tommy company, which he was very glad for. A few small minigames were built to help pass the time. Since the situation with the bots meant Tommy had missed out on HHH, Ren started using some unused questions from the day as well as getting Tommy’s answers for what he had asked. From there it just dissolved into a bit of storytelling.

For the most part, Tommy just listened to the stories, but when he was offered to tell one of his own, he passed up on the offer, asking for some time to think of a good one. While the others started talking, he tried thinking of something to share when he realized something. “Guys… I… I don’t have a fucking clue when I got here.”

They asked for clarification and Tommy explained that thinking back, he couldn’t remember anything from his exile or the first few weeks he was in Hermitcraft. Except for a few short bits of memory, he had nothing. He tried to calm the other hermits down by mentioning Ghostbur had the same thing happen, but that only seemed to make them more worried.

Just about everyone stayed over that night no matter how much Tommy wanted them to not stay just for pity, but he ended up enjoying the impromptu sleepover. Though it was still in the back of his mind, just having the hermits there for him made things feel a bit more normal.

Grumbot stared at [:)]. He should be awake but he wasn’t. The revival didn’t seem to have worked and it wasn’t sure why. So it asked for more help, but then was upset when none was given. Well, the staying near [:)] suggestion was repeated, but it could very clearly see that just being in proximity to [:)] was not doing anything.

It glanced up briefly as [:)] came near. It couldn’t quite see them, but the listed coordinates for them matched their current position. [:)] came near afterwards, Grumbot able to see the edges of his red feathers for a moment. They talked about it and [:)] for a moment before leaving again, and then it could hear them discussing Ghostbur. It sounded like that revival mostly worked, though there seemed to be an issue with it. Grumbot frowned at that, wishing it had known about this sooner. It would need to find Ghostbur to fix the situation and then proceed to fix [:)].

Grumbot tried to move, but was stopped. It needed to stay near [:)]. It argued that this was not helping [:)]. The answer was that it wasn’t supposed to be helping [:)], it was supposed to be helping Grum. But Grumbot didn’t care. Grum was not in charge. He was just supposed to work his programs. It, on the other hand, was meant to run this world and keep everything in order. And that included fixing the revivals.