Unrecognizable

~~Chapter Five~~

"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!