Chapter Text
The bus jolted to a stop, waking up its lone sleeping passenger as it did. Mumbo was the last person left to get off and they were at his stop; a quaint village called Pelican Town where he planned to start his life anew. Life in the city had gotten too much for him to bear, and his grandfathers old farm had been sitting and waiting for him for over a decade. It was time he did something with it.
He stepped off the bus, duffel bag across his shoulder and suitcase in hand, the sunset casting a warm glow over the wooded area around him. He took a deep breath of the fresh air, letting it fill his lungs completely before letting it back out. He was immediately more at peace here than he ever had been in Zuzu City.
“Mumbo!” a voice called out to him. He looked over to see a very excited man in a red turtleneck bounding towards him, another man in a wheelchair following closely behind. He frowned, wracking his brain to try and remember their names; he hadn’t been to Pelican Town since he was a child.
“Grian…?” Mumbo hazarded a guess. With the way the man’s face lit up it seemed he was right.
“Yeah, you remembered!” Grian smiled up at him. “You remember Scar too, right?” He gestured to the man in the wheelchair.
“Howdy!” Scar held his hand out for Mumbo to shake. “Long time, no see!”
Mumbo shook Scar’s hand, taking note of the mayor's badge on his lapel as he did. “Yeah, you’ve uh… you’ve changed a lot!”
Scar laughed and patted the top of one of the wheels of his chair. “And you haven’t changed a bit, besides that glorious moustache of yours.”
“And he’s about a foot and a half taller,” Grian added. “Weren’t we about the same height fifteen years ago?”
“Well, that was fifteen years ago, not sure what you expected.” Mumbo laughed at the way Grian stood on his toes and stretched up to try and match him.
“Anyways,” Scar said through a giggle at Grian’s expense, “as you probably noticed, I’m the mayor of Pelican Town now!” Scar gestured to his badge with pride. “Therefore it’s my duty to help you get settled in!”
“And I’m helping because I did most of the work of fixing up that rundown old cottage you’ll be living in, so I need to show you some stuff,” Grian added, finally giving up on spontaneously growing taller.
“Plus he missed you.”
“That too, I guess.” Grian rolled his eyes, though he was very clearly smiling.
Grian led the way down the path to the farm property, chattering about the fixes and improvements he’d made to the house while Mumbo lagged behind with Scar. He’d been working on the old cottage since Mumbo had written in to say he was taking it over at last, his work only finishing two days prior.
When they got to the farmhouse itself Mumbo could see why it had needed fixing. Grian had clearly done his best, and Mumbo had no doubt it would be comfortable to live in if Scars vouch was worth anything, however it had certainly seen better days. Grian looked almost nervous as he asked what Mumbo thought of it and practically cheered when Mumbo said it was perfect.
Mumbo was left to his own devices with a complimentary box of miscellaneous seed packets from the local corner store and the promise of a grand tour to meet everyone in town the next day. Mumbo was so exhausted that, after dumping his bag and suitcase on the ground and setting the seed box on the nightstand, he collapsed into bed still in the clothes he’d arrived in.
—
When he awoke early the next morning it took him a few moments to gather his bearings and figure out where he was. It was the most peaceful morning he’d ever had; no cars honking outside, no stomping from any upstairs neighbours. Just birds singing and cicadas buzzing as the last dregs of winter finally washed away.
He took his time with showering and getting ready for the day. He was on his own schedule now. Well, that was until he heard a sharp knocking at his door. He quickly checked that the ends of his moustache were curled to perfection before going to answer it.
He opened the door to Grian bouncing on his heels, a giddy smile on his face.
“Good morning!” Grian said, far too chipper for the early hour. “Ready for your tour? You’ve got a lot of people who wanna meet you.”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Mumbo half-laughed. He stepped out and shut the door behind him, following behind Grian as he walked back in the direction of the bus stop.
The town proper was on the other end of the dirt path from Mumbo’s farm. Mumbo absently wondered how jittery Scars wheelchair must’ve felt going down that path, covered in rocks as it was. Maybe Mumbo would take a day to clean it up and smooth it out a bit at some point. He wasn’t sure how to go about doing that. Maybe he could ask Grian for help.
The path as they got into town shifted into much smoother cobblestone. The main square was fairly small, but full of colour and life even with only a few people milling around. There was the sweet scent of early spring flowers floating through the air alongside the butterflies and bees. Mumbo took a moment to look around, small things bringing back his memories from when he visited as a child.
It was much the same, though the paint on the buildings was a little more faded and there were more trees and flowerbeds around. And everything looked smaller, but that was just because he was bigger.
“C’mon, Timmy and Impulse are over here.” Grian grabbed Mumbo’s wrist and led him up a flight of stairs inset into a short cliff. There was a fountain at the top with a few people sitting on benches by it and chatting.
Impulse looked up as he noticed Grian and Mumbo walking up to the small group. And then he kept looking up because man, Mumbo was taller than he expected.
“Hey, guys!” Impulse said with a smile and a wave, causing the other people in the group to look up too. The only person Mumbo recognised was Jimmy—or as Grian had always called him, Timmy—and a man he guessed was Scott just going by the cyan dyed hair. Scott had always loved cyan.
They all greeted Mumbo with varying levels of joy, and the two people he didn’t recognise, Lizzie and Joel, introduced themselves to him. They had only just moved to Pelican Town recently as well. Mumbo found that he easily fell back into conversation with his childhood summer-holidays friends. It was nice after not having any friends at all in the city.
“Hey, where’s Martyn?” Grian asked after a while. “Didn’t he wanna meet Mumbo too?” Mumbo’s brow creased. That was a name he didn’t recognise.
“I think today’s a mines day for him,” Scott replied before turning to Mumbo. “Martyn only moved here a few years ago, he runs the Adventurers Guild with Ren up in the mountains.”
Mumbo nodded in acknowledgment. He wasn’t surprised Ren had taken over the Adventurers Guild, he was a pretty rowdy teenager when Mumbo knew him.
“Ah well, you’re bound to bump into him eventually.” Grian shrugged. “This place is tiny, unlike that big city you’re used to.” He playfully jabbed his elbow into Mumbo’s side. Mumbo laughed and swatted Grians shoulder.
“You say that like I ever went anywhere other than work and my apartment. My world has always been pretty small.” Mumbo said.
“Speaking of work,” Impulse started, “didn’t you used to just sit at a computer all day? You’re gonna have a pretty hard time going from that to running a farm.”
Mumbo cringed. “Yeah, hadn’t really thought about that. I’ll- I’ll figure it out.”
“Those seeds Scar gave you yesterday are pretty easy to grow,” Scott said. “I picked them out myself to give you as easy a time as possible getting started. Baby’s first crops.”
“Oh! That’s- thank you.” Mumbo gave him a genuine smile that was easily returned. He didn’t mind being called a baby in this instance—he’d call himself that, too.
They chatted for a while longer before Grian dragged him off to meet more people. By lunchtime, the only people he hadn’t been acquainted with were Ren, Martyn, and the clockmaker and his husband.
Grian eventually left Mumbo to his own devices once he was sure Mumbo wouldn’t get lost. He spent a while wandering aimlessly, not quite ready to go back to his farm just yet. He felt a bit like a kid again, except this time he wasn’t acting like his grandfathers shadow. He was his own person. He didn’t quite know who that person was, but that was kind of what he was in Pelican Town to figure out. Who he was without the monotony of a desk job.
He found himself in front of a dilapidated building nearby the now empty fountain, with faded words that might’ve once said “Community Centre” painted above the door. From what he remembered it was shut when he was a child, too, but it hadn’t yet fallen quite so far into disrepair. Mumbo was surprised Grian hadn’t stepped in and fixed up the whole place by himself. He supposed it probably wasn’t worth it at this point.
“Ah, I miss that old place,” came a voice from behind Mumbo. He turned to see a man in a fluffy green hoodie looking up at the broken clock on the building. “The crafts room was always my favourite when I was a kid. I think some of the more intricate stuff we’d get to make was what got me into the clock business.”
“Bdubs, I assume?” Mumbo asked, a small smile on his lips. The older man looked to him with a face of mock offence.
“Aw, you don’t remember me?” Bdubs dropped the act quickly with a laugh, “s’pose that’s to be expected, I think I only saw you and your gramps a couple times while you were visiting. Etho and I don’t get out much even now.”
“Why’re you out now, then?” Mumbo asked, then his eyes widened slightly. “If that’s not, like, a weird thing to ask. I think I’ve forgotten how to actually talk to people without Grian around to help.”
Bdubs laughed again. “You’re fine. I’ve been cooped up at home for the past week working on this custom clock someone in Zuzu City ordered and I needed to take a walk or I’d go berserk.”
“That’s fair.”
“You ever get like that, in the city?” Bdubs asked. “Goin’ stir crazy, only yourself to keep you company?” He paused and glanced back towards his house. “Ah, well I guess I also have Etho, but you know what I mean.”
“Too much of the same every day, yeah. That’s why I finally ended up moving out here. I needed some real fresh air. Just kind of hoping this doesn’t get old too.”
“I doubt it will, this place is full of secrets you’ll be diggin’ up for years to come.” Bdubs dramatically swept an arm out and let out a laugh.
Mumbo wasn’t sure what he meant by that. He supposed that’s why they were called secrets. He’d find out eventually.
“Hey, Mumbo,” Bdubs said, tone slightly more serious, though still lighthearted.
“Hm?”
“You should head up into the mountains around sunset. It looks beautiful from the lake by Grian’s house.”
“Isn’t that where the mine is, too? Or was it lower down…?”
“Yeah, it’s by the lake. Why?” Bdubs cocked his head to the side.
“Ah, I’m yet to meet this Martyn fella that’s been mentioned a few times and Scott said he was down in the mines today.”
“Oooh!” Bdubs tilted his head back slightly. “Yeah, that’s where he’d be. Couple days a week he goes down to get Pearl’s supply of ores, and crystals for Scar and Joel’s, uh… trinket things shop.”
“That sounds… tiring.” Mumbo screwed up his nose.
“Yeah, not like farming’s gonna be much easier for ya though.” Bdubs laughed again. He did that a lot, Mumbo noticed.
“You’re not the first person to mention that. I knew it was going to be hard when I moved here, but now I’m starting to get scared.” Mumbo let out a nervous chuckle.
Bdubs shook his head. “You’ll be fine, it’ll get easier the more you do it. Just give it time, and remember to rest when you need it. You should get going before that sun’s gone, you don’t wanna be on the mountain too late at night.”
“Why?”
“The Boogeyman’ll get ya.” Bdubs wiggled his fingers at Mumbo, then smiled and shook his head. “Nah, just kiddin’, the paths down are just dangerous after dark.”
“Ah, right.”
They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.
The area of the mountain that Mumbo could access was pretty small; just Grian’s frankly oversized house, the lake, the Guild, and a quarry down past it. There seemed to be another area higher up, blocked off by what looked to be a fairly recent landslide.
Mumbo decided to cross a precarious wooden bridge to a small island in the middle of the lake. He sat down leaning up against a tree there and looked out over the town and the Gem Sea beyond it. The warm light glittered on the teal water as the sun slowly dipped towards the horizon, and if Mumbo looked hard enough he could almost see an island or two in the distance. Bdubs was right—
“It’s beautiful, huh?”
Mumbo was startled out of his reverie by yet another unfamiliar voice. He looked over to the lakeshore to see a man standing there smiling at him, a full satchel over his shoulder and a pickaxe in his hand. He was covered in a thin layer of dust.
“Oh— uh, yeah, yes it is.” Mumbo stumbled over his words, slightly caught off guard by how pretty the man—presumably Martyn—was, even with the grime. That might’ve made it better, actually. Mumbo couldn’t tell the colour of his eyes from where he was, but they were incredibly kind. His fluffy blond hair almost glowed in the light of the setting sun.
Martyn set his satchel and pick down on the ground and made his way over to Mumbo. He sat down next to him, Mumbo still watching him as he did.
“You look like a deer caught in the headlights.” Martyn half-laughed as he spoke. “I’m Martyn.” He held out a gloved hand for Mumbo to shake. Mumbo did, trying not to think about how small the thick leather glove made his hand feel.
“Mumbo. I think ‘deer in the headlights’ is sort of my default, sorry.” He let out his own nervous laugh. Mumbo noticed Martyn’s eyes were blue, tinted the same colour as the sea in the orange glow.
“When meeting new people or just in general?”
“Yes.”
Martyn properly laughed this time, turning back to look at the sunset as he did. Mumbo followed his gaze. The sky was painted in pinks and oranges and deep blues, thin clouds the only thing breaking up a perfect gradient.
“Fair enough. I figure living in a city your whole life would probably make anyone a bit high-strung.”
“Mm…”
They were silent for a while, just watching the sunset. Mumbo was still slightly tense; this felt far too casual for two people who had only just met. So Mumbo did what he always did when he was tense around someone even mildly attractive.
“This is kinda romantic, maybe we should kiss.”
He got flirty about it.
Martyn let out a joke-excited “Oooh!” that made Mumbo giggle.
“Maybe take me out to dinner first, buddy,” Martyn said. He shot Mumbo a smile. Mumbo felt considerably less tense now. Abrupt flirting didn’t always work out for him, however with the right people it was a great ice breaker. “Speaking of dinner, I should probably get going home. Ren’s cooking tonight and I need to make sure he doesn’t burn the whole building down.”
“You two live together?” Mumbo asked.
“I mean we don’t share a bed.” Martyn winked at him. “But yeah, in the loft thing above the Guild.”
“Oh— I didn’t mean, uh…”
“You just said we should kiss, and now you’re getting flustered over a wink.” Martyn rolled his eyes with a smile. “Make up your mind, mate.” He clapped a hand on Mumbo’s shoulder, then used it as support to stand up. “I guess I’ll see you around then, yeah?”
“Uh— yeah! Yeah, I’ll see you too. Around.”
Martyn shook his head, a smile still on his face as he went back over to gather his things and head back to the Guild building. Mumbo stayed put where he was, staring after him.
“You might wanna get home soon, there’s Boogeymen out in the dark.” Martyn called out from the door to the building before entering and shutting it behind him. He sounded surprisingly serious. Was the Boogeyman some kind of inside joke that he didn’t get?
Mumbo took his advice anyway and stood up to make his way down the shortcut Grian had mentioned that led right to his farm. Like most parts of the farm, it was pretty overgrown, and Mumbo hit his head on a few branches before he eventually made it into his house.
He cooked himself a small meal and ate it while idly staring at the TV. Not much was on, just some show about farming tips that Mumbo figured he should watch since this was his full-time now. He needed to get around to planting some of those seeds. He decided he would dedicate the next morning to it.
As he crawled into bed later that night, Mumbo tried to remember the last time he’d spent so long outdoors. Besides Grian showing him the insides of some of the buildings and the lunch they’d had in the saloon, he had spent most of the day in the sun. He was thankful he’d had the forethought to wear sunscreen, but if the itchiness on the back of his neck was any indication he’d managed to miss a spot. He rolled over onto his stomach to avoid irritating it.
Thinking of the sun, his mind drifted back to Martyn. It was rare that he was so captivated by somebody he’d just met, yet something about Martyn just felt so… welcoming, for lack of a better word. Warm. Even with just that one almost-conversation, Mumbo hoped that he and Martyn could get closer. That they could be good friends.
As Mumbo drifted off to sleep, thinking of golden sunlight and the deep blue ocean, a wolf howl echoed down from the mountain.