Mumbo was trying to fight it. Trying to keep himself as, well, himself, but it was difficult.
With Stress pinning him to a wall, his weapons and armour strewn across the floor, and Rowan's talking in his ears, he was ready to give up. This was almost too much for him.
Whenever he thought of giving up, however, and let Rowan take over though (the wolf thing had openly expressed the want to control Mumbo over Xisuma now)m he was reminded of Grian. Reminded of Grian's cheerful, grinning face.
He was reminded that Iskall and Doc and the other Hermits were relying on him to help them, and get rid of Rowan. Xisuma was relying in Mumbo to keep Rowan away from Xisuma, so he could help with what he knew about Rowan.
Mumbo had to fight this.
So he persisted. It was a weird battle, and Mumbo wasn't used to trying to keep things from corrupting his brain. but he liked to think that it was working. In fact, it was working.
Rowan let out a frustrated growl, glaring up at Mumbo, who stared back down, a tired look in his red eyes.
"Kady. Escort him back to our headquarters." Rowan ordered, staring at Stress. She nodded, and hauled Mumbo away from the wall, twisting herself to hold onto Mumbo's wrists, leading him through the nether hub and to Grian's base.
Again.
—-
The next thing Mumbo knew, he'd been shoved face first into a concrete pillar. His nose and moustache had been crushed, and his eyes were squeezed tightly shut. He could hear Rowan's whispers in his ears again, going on about power and dominance over the server again (which Mumbo wasn't at all interested in), but he felt calm for once.
Maybe being trapped in that box with the mob noises and drowning and starvation had done something. Mumbo didn't know.
He felt calm though, and he was quite pleased with how things were going. If he could keep this up, then Rowan wouldn't have a host, and couldn't reign more destruction than need be!
"Heidi, you try." Rowan barked at his companion, and Mumbo silently celebrated his small act of resistance.
The first good thing that Mumbo had been involved in since Doc and Ren had figured out how to get rid of Rowan, to be entirely honest.
Rowan's whispered vanished, only to be quickly replaced with Heidis. Hers were lighter, though the things she offered bore awful, havoc wrecking things. She offered fun, which Mumbo could get behind, although he disliked that she wanted destruction. She wanted him to destroy others hard work, and do Rowan's dirty work for him.
She wanted to make him into an evil Grian, basically, and Mumbo, being the responsible friend, wouldn't have that. The server had enough to deal with when there was one Grian running around wrecking friendly havoc. Let alone two, one being under the influence of a bird that looked and felt like it was made of active redstone.
So Mumbo refused. He wasn't going to let Heidi or Rowan get the better of him.
What Mumbo didn't know at the time, was that this wasn't something anyone could do, and it was baffling. Rowan certainly looked baffled. No one had ever been able to resist his call, or that of anything like him. They could try, but never truely resist.
Mumbo, of course, had no clue. He was just trying to stay safe, and keep Grian and the other Hermits safe at the same time.
And that was the best he could do, while trapped here.