Chapter Text
He stared wide-eyed at the birdman, it clicked and chattered at him, the corners of its beak seemed to turn downwards into a strange sort of frown, along with his head feathers drooping, when it realised it wasn't getting anything but a wide-eyed stare.
It tried once more before huffing, its feathers ruffled as it stalked off to go do who knows what- he didn't care.
He let his guard down slightly as he took in his new surroundings. The bed that he'd promptly scrambled out of when he'd woken up had the blankets torn off of him in a blind panic and a pillow (???) kn ocked to the floor. He gently picked the fluffy thing up, it was soft, yet cool, the perfect pillow. He buried his face in it. He could cry. He did, a little.
He sat on the edge of the bed and sighed. Not in pain? He quizzically lifted his tattered shirt to check his wounds, to find them treated, wrapped and mostly healed. He was surprised but very welcome, it had become a pain being constantly injured. It was something else to just… not? He lingered on the scars for a moment before moving on.
After checking his health, he checked the rest of the room, to find the weirdest thing. A change of clothes and food and water? What universe did he just steep into because he's not hating it. Maybe he died? Went to heaven? He kinda hopes not because if this is all heaven can offer then well, shit.
He changed. Effective immediately Mumbo was no longer a severely tattered shirt and trousers man. He was a soft shirt and joggers-too-short guy. He wasn't entirely okay with the colours- white shirt, grey joggers- it made him feel even more like the science experiment he was but they were clean and not ripped to let in all the cold. He'd take them. He mused over his severely overgrown facial hair that grew at odd lengths- only having been shaved off for samples and the like. His now long and greasy hair ran down past his shoulders, he ripped a sliver of cloth from his now old and abandoned shirt to attempt to tie the monstrosity back- the less things he had to be grabbed and dragged- the better. He'd chop it off if they ever made the mistake of giving him something sharp.
He sniffed the food before deciding he didn't really care if it was drugged or not, he was hungry and wanted to eat- same with the water. He learnt not to ignore offerings from his captors.
Last but not least, he tried the door. On the off chance that they'd somehow forgotten to lock it. It was a normal sized door- the room was nothing like the testing chamber he'd lived in before. He squashed the spark of hope that bloomed immediately. He wouldn't be going into this unprepared and naive. The door had a large window in it, which the bird-man had tried to speak through when he'd awoken. There wasn't a handle but most doors he'd seen on ships had sensors or something similar. He pushed, pulled and twisted but to no avail, the door was firmly locked in place. He wasn't that surprised.
Not long after he was finished trying to wrestle with the door, he'd taken a seat on the corner of the bed. Head in his hands, he drifted off into the possibilities of what could be happening to him in the near future.
His trance of self-torture was broke by a slight tap on the window of the door. He was startled and looked up to see the big black eyes of the moth person looking at him. It had been the first time he'd seen a creature like her before, she was like a giant moth. When he says big, he meant big - taller than him when stood up to her full height. But it seemed inconvenient to heft around all the fluff that encompassed her body. She reminded him of a mix between a Luna moth from earth and a centaur from legends only without the human part and all moth.
The look on her face was hard to read but she seemed happy that he was up and had eaten and changed. Chittering up a storm until she realised he wasn't reacting to her words. A chirp alerted him that they weren't alone and that it was likely the bird-man that was standing outside of view.
She pulled him into view, and grabbed his arm to wave at Mumbo with it. Was she trying to show he was friendly? Either way, the sight of the bird-man brought back memories he'd rather repress. However this one was coloured brightly- crimson feathers, patterned with the occasional blue,yellow and green. A parrot maybe? He was structured more human-like than the moth woman, he stood on two clawed talon tipped feet but had two sets of wings, one set that seemed to also function as a pair of arms with more talons at the end. His face was pure bird-like, a large beak front and centre with wide nervous looking eyes flitting back and forth between himself and the moth-lady.
Mumbo waved back just in case this was some new trick he had to learn to entertain the aliens. He'd take being a pet over an experiment. Maybe they wouldn't hurt him as much if they had some affection for him. The bird blinked back in what he could only assume surprise and furrowed its brow in thought. The two aliens turned to each other and briefly conversed about something animatedly but they both ran out of the room again, but not before waving goodbye? It was a strange encounter but he was glad he wasn't being dragged out to be prodded yet.
It had been a while since the encounter with the bird and moth. Long enough for the ships day-time cycle to drift to evening, the lights were dimmer and Mumbo was feeling alone.
It had been a danger of night-time, the darkness encouraged his mind to reflect and mope and think . He hated it. He would always go back to that night where everything went to shit. Sometimes he wondered if his briefcase had made it back to the few family members he had left and sometimes he thought about how hanging himself on his childhood swing-set would've been better than any of this.
Hanging himself now was awfully tempting too. He sighed as he looked towards the heap of scrap clothing in the corner of his new prison. It wouldn't take much work to rip them apart and fasten them into a rope. He stood up and walked over to the scraps, picking them up.
“mmmprow?” He froze. Scraps forgotten he held his breath at the sound of something so inherently home-like.
“merooww?” It sounded again. He shuffled towards the door, not sure if this was a trick or some alien dialect that sounded straight from home.
He peaked out the window, to find two big round eyes staring up at him. A little grey and white cat. So earth-like, no antlers, no extra tails or eyes or feet. A little cat. His mind reeled at all the possibilities- it had to be an alien or a hallucination! He'd had them before but they weren't usually so cute. More terrifying.
“Mreeoeww!” The little cat shouted up at him, standing up just to stretch and meander off into the rest of the ship.
Mumbo couldn't help but crack a smile. The second in two days- a new record. This one was even accompanied by a small chuckle at how unreal his mind had gotten. Even in space, a cat was a cat. Shouts at you until it decides to wander off. It was ridiculous.
Yet, he'd left his scrap clothing in the corner of the room to investigate. He was still curious after all this time and honestly- he was interested to see what these aliens had planned for him. The saying ‘curiosity killed the cat’ wondered into his mind.
“-but satisfaction brought it back.” He mumbled, voice horse and cracked. He took the blanket from his bed and curled up on the floor in the corner of the room. Drifting off into a lackluster sleep.
Grian was worried, confused, intrigued and excited . He felt a lot of things about bringing the human on board the SS Boatem but the words from his crew mates, especially Scar and Pearl were what tipped him over the edge and helped them drag the large human into a spare room and treat his wounds.
The compromise of bringing such a dangerous creature on board was to keep him locked permanently in the room- only allowed out if escorted by Impulse. They were lucky to have someone that could go up against humans in their crew. Though they all knew that he'd rather avoid a fight in the end.
Either way, he was concerned, especially after being told the human had acted in defence of Pearl, after she'd waved at him. He was slightly worried it was some sort of human binding ritual and she'd gone and gotten herself adopted by the meanest creature in the galaxy, he was also impressed but she didn't need to know that. THEN she went and forced him into the waving ceremony- his heart had practically stopped in that moment. But when the human had waved back, a flood of curiosity and excitement crashed through him and Pearl and himself had gotten slightly lost in their conversation about how they could somehow use this human to show the rest of the universe that they needed to stop treating them as cattle or monsters.
When they'd realised how late it had gotten, they'd felt slightly bad about making the human wait so long for their evening meal. When they'd finally made their way back, they found a strange sight.
The human was curled in the corner of the room opposite the bed, on the floor. They were confused to say the least- most creatures preferred a bed, and from research, humans did too. They hadn't understood but were happy to take the chance to slip the food tray in without having to call Impulse away from his workbench.
That evening, it was difficult for Grian to get comfortable in his nest. As he drifted off to sleep, he couldn't help but feel pity for the human.
Scar had been tasked with delivering the humans breakfast.
He was nervous. He'd never come face to face with a human before, only while he had been asleep! Despite being an avid lover of all things flora and fauna, big and small, he’d also been read terrifying bedtime stories as a child.
Humans that had taken down armies, torn children from their homes, only to gobble them up!
“Purrpt!” Ah yes, Jellie was with him. She was a comfortable presence sitting in his two lower arms, he carried the human’s breakfast in his upper left arm and pet her with his upper right. She purred in content.
Scar opened the door separating himself from the humans door, taking a big steadying breath, he walked out in front of the window.
The human was wide awake and looked much cleaner than the last time he'd seen him! He’d seen him last when he'd helped Pearl drag him to the ship for treatment and helped convince Grian and Impulse to keep him on board until he was better.
The human had reacted really well to their healing salves and balms, they'd wrapped up his wounds for good measure and had shuddered at the scars littering the humans body.
Coming back to the present at Jellie’s head popping out of his arms with a ‘purrrpt?’, he jumped slightly at the intense look the human was giving him. Gulping down a lump in his throat he tried to introduce himself.
“ Hello, my name is Scar and this is Jellie. You might recognise her. She's a ꉓꋫ꓅.” His pronunciation still wasn't the best but as soon as he'd been allowed to access them, Scar had studied earth's material as much as he could to try and find answers for his little fluffy friend. He hadn't found much but he'd found her species and worked out how to care for her effectively. He hoped it could provide some sort of assurance that he and his friends weren't here to hurt this human.
The human seemed to stall at the mention of a word nearly in his language.
“ꉓꋫ꓅? ᨶꪖ᭢ ꪗꪮꪊ ꪊ᭢ᦔꫀꪹకᡶꪖ᭢ᦔ ꪑꫀ?” The translator worked hard to pick up what the human had said but it didn't quite work. Scar could make out the first word from his own knowledge but anything further on was a struggle.
He frowned and his bright eyes dimmed. He wanted to help this creature. No. Person. He wanted to help them but he didn't know how. Not yet.
For now, he simply gestured for the human to move back and slid the tray through after cracking the door open.
What he didn't expect was for Jellie to suddenly turn liquid and slide out of his arms and through the crack of the door.
“ Jellie !” He exclaimed loudly, a sudden fear that the human wasn't what they thought him to be and that his dear friend would get hurt. He didn't think, the sudden confusion of possible danger risking his closest friend, he rushed into the room. The door swooshing open fully.
The human jolted back in surprise, Scar realising what he had just done to himself froze and stared at the human.
“Mrooowww?” Jellie called out to both of them. They both stared at her as she approached the human. Scars lights whizzed around his skin- unsure and scared.
Jellie jumped on the human- she JUMPED-
Scars terrifying thoughts of Jellie being crushed into a pulp were quickly put aside to make space for utter confusion.
The previously skittish and nervous human, caught Jellie flawlessly. Like he'd done it a million times before. She stared up at him and meowed, the meow she does when she wants food. Was she really trying to get a second breakfast out of the human???
Scar froze as the human looked towards him, seemingly panicked. Scar tentatively held out his hands to try and coax the human to return Jellie.
The human nervously complied, Scar had never seen a human before this one. He could now say that he had come face to face with him and survived. The human shifted forward, eyes darting to any movement Scar made. He swiftly but gently dropped Jellie into his hands and then scuttled back into the corner of the room.
He seemed as afraid of Scar as Scar was of him. Scar, very quickly , retreated to the hallway, forever grateful he wasn't the reason that the human was let loose on the ship. He gave Jellie a hug and made sure to lock the door behind him.
Just because the human wasn't a danger then, didn't mean he wouldn't be if he had the chance to run wild. But, something told Scar that he wouldn't be as long as they didn't hurt him first.
Whatever happened next, Scar was just very happy to have Jellie back safely. He wasn't looking forward to telling Grian what had just occurred.
Mumbo was shitting himself. The cat wasn't a hallucination. He'd met a new alien. He'd touched a new alien.
It was tall, not quite as tall as him, but taller than the bird man. He was human-like, except he had four arms, two on either side. And patches of lights glowing and moving all over his skin and eyes. He had pointed ears and a strangely shaped mouth. He looked strong.
He'd touched him.
Only briefly. When passing the mischievous fluffy cat back to her owner, their hands had briefly touched. Mumbo had snatched his hand back and shot as far away as possible from the new alien. He wasn't getting hurt for a cat's misdeeds- it didn't matter how cute that cat was.
The alien had left, very quickly after hugging the cat close to his chest. When the door locked into place, Mumbo couldn't help but let his legs give out underneath him as his adrenaline crashed. That was scary. He was grateful it ended well.
Impulse wasn't pleased. Well- he wasn't upset but he was uncomfortable. They had a human on their ship and he'd been asked to escort it to the bathroom to be washed. Scar had apparently noticed how much of a stench the human gave off and was worried it would negatively affect his health. Pearl agreed. So it was Impulse's job to escort it to the shower block.
Grian was here also, he was thankful. Impulse hadn't had the most experience with fighting- especially not compared to him. He was just strong and not easy to break unlike his fellow space sailers.
He stood, as a guard, behind Grian as the Avian stood at the humans door and waved his hand at it through the glass. It surprised him to see the human tentatively wave back.
It looked worse for wear. Its hair was practically matted with grease, sweat and blood. The shirt and joggers that he and Scar had leant did not fit him properly. It grew hair out of its face in a big puff that looked unruly and uncomfortable.
He felt bad for it but he wouldn't let it hurt his friends.
“- I’m going to open the door now and then we'll walk you over to the shower room where you can clean yourself up. There is a towel and spare clothes for you to change into when we get there.” He didn't understand why Grian was speaking to the creature like it understood them. If anything, it looked like it was overwhelming the human. It was skittish and anxious. Maybe they should wait before doing this. It hadn't been enough time- someone would get hurt.
He was just about to bring up his thoughts when Grian opened the humans door. His eyes zeroed in on the human immediately, without the door, he could tell what Scar meant. It really did need a wash. His sensitive nose twitched as he tried not to let it show on his face.
Grian went to step in to guide the human out but Impulse put a large paw on his shoulder, “ I don't think we should rush this, let him come out on his own time. Stand closer to me.”
Grian shuffled closer but waved for the human to follow. It took a tentative step forward and Impulse really began to wish that they had a holding cell with some sort of facilities attached so they didn't have to risk this.
It took another step, one foot out the door, when Grian began to keep walking, gesturing for the human to follow. It did. Slowly and keeping an eye on everything in its path.
Impulse decided to bring up the rear. Ready to dart forward and grab the human if need be.
The bird wanted him to follow but he'd also brought a massive lion, bear, wolf centaur thing with him.
It was huge- bigger than the moth's full height but not by much, it was still intimidating. It had what he could only describe as a dragon's tail waving lazily behind it. It's eyes locked on to his every movement. To say he was nervous was an understatement. He knew he couldn't win. Not in his state.
So he complied, he followed the bird-man, did as he gestured to do. They eventually arrived in some sort of locker room. It turned out that it had showers attached. He suddenly had a big black fluffy towel shoved into his arms, along with another pair of joggers and another shirt of different colours to the ones he was wearing now. Then they were gone. He was left alone in the small locker room with an absolutely mesmerising shower looming over him.
He didn't think twice. He dashed to get undressed and clean for the first time in years. Sure he'd been hosed down when he'd gotten too bloody or mucky before but he never felt clean.
Oh god- the water was warm . If there were extra salty streams being mixed in with the nice clean water then that was his business. This was heaven after all. There were bottles, lots of them in all different sizes, lined up on a large shelf next to the lockers. He opened a few of them and decided that the purple one smelt nice and looked enough like soap for him to dump two handfuls into the matted mess he called hair to try and work out any of the kinks that would cooperate.
Not much did but he definitely smelt and felt better then he had in a long long time. He was almost thankful to these aliens. The warm water and quiet atmosphere really got him thinking. The stark difference between all his other experiences in space compared to this one. He wasn't sure what to think. Maybe he'd had really bad luck so far and not all aliens were evil to the core? Maybe he could find some kind of something up in the stars?
He wanted it to be true but he knew it was more than likely a set up. They do something for him and now he owes them his soul. Maybe his organs instead?
He spent some time running the shower, after he was dried and dressed in fresh clothes, looking for something sharp to cut his hair, shave his face and defend himself if they tried to take payment for this heavenly time. He couldn't find anything. He supposed they probably don't keep knives in their bathroom.
It was a shame but he'd have to face the music eventually. There was no other exit to the room, all he could do was take a deep breath and approach the door they'd left from. Knocking, the door opened and he peeked his head out to find the giant lion creature sitting in the hallway.
It's ears turned to him first before it's eyes locked with his. It stood and looked awkward as if it was contemplating how to gesture for the human to follow him. The bird-man was nowhere to be found, maybe he'd wandered off? If the lion-man had wanted a chicken snack? He'd laugh if he wasn't terrified he was next.
Eventually the creature decided to do its best to copy the wave trend that the moth lady had set. Mumbo waved back and it seemed to reassure the large beast. Eventually he was herded back into his cell. The creature almost looked reluctant to lock the door. Almost.
He was all alone again. He wondered what the next day would bring.