Work Text:
Scar’s story is one that is told in pieces, never told in full to one person, though piece by piece it’s been put together.
You see, Scar was a tradesman, a man of many talents. His spwagon and factory were what drew Mumbo to him on a longer planet stay looking for stories. Scar was known for his silver tongue, for his ability to talk someone into buying more than they had originally intended to buy, though everything was of a good quality.
It was their first long planet stay since their last member was added to the crew. Mumbo, while he adored the crew, both those who welcomed him in and the new member that they had added to their ranks after him, split off to explore. He didn’t plan to see his crew but once a week or so for their mandatory crew dinners. No, he planned to learn everything he possibly could about the planet they were on.
This eventually led Mumbo to Scar.
Scar, who everyone noted would know the most about the planet, as he’d been everywhere with his spwagon and his factory which was housed inside of a train, moving from place to place every year or so.
One afternoon Scar opened his door to a nervous Mumbo, holding a small toolbox and smiling kindly at Scar.
“Why hello there! What can I do for you on this fine day?”
“I’ve heard you know a lot about this planet-”
“Indeed I do, what is it you want to know?”
Mumbo paused for a moment before replying, his eyes locking onto Scar’s as he spoke.
“Everything.”
“Everything? Now that’ll take a good while. How about a trade?”
“A trade?”
“A trade my friend. I tell you what you want to know and you help me with a few things.”
“What things?”
“Just helping around the factory. Handing me things, that sort of thing. It’s more productive to work while I talk. If I was just telling you everything without working I’d never get anything done.”
“Do you run all of this by yourself?”
“Indeed I do! She’s a beauty isn’t she?”
“She is.”
“Do we have a deal?”
“We do.”
“Wonderful doing business with you-”
“Mumbo.”
“Mumbo. Wonderful to do business with you Mumbo, come, let me give you the grand tour!”
Scar showed Mumbo around his factory train and spwagon that day, speaking a mile a minute about what every machine did, how dangerous it could be if operated incorrectly, how many things it could produce in a day, where he got each machine, the techniques he used and how he learned them, who he learned them from. The man was a well of information and he was one who Mumbo thought was endless. To have even a fraction of the information Scar did was to have a large book's worth, maybe even several.
Mumbo returned to the spwagon and the factory train each day. He found himself returning for Scar himself more than the information the man brought. As he agreed Mumbo helped Scar around the factory while Scar told him everything and everything, answering every question, his smile showing that he was getting as much enjoyment spreading information as Mumbo got learning it. When it was time for Scar to pack everything into his spwagon and go to town to sell things Mumbo went with him, watching Scar do his thing, and even trying a few times to entice people to leave with more than they intended.
On one of these trips they ran into Skizz, telling his stories on a street corner to anyone who would listen. Scar waved him over with a large smile on his face, a hat in his hands not unlike the one he wore on his own head.
“You know, you’re likely to get more attention if you’re wearing a hat like this.”
“Really?”
“Oh yes! People just adore hats, draws in attention. The fancier the hat, the more likely someone will pay attention and this hat my friend, it suits you. Go on, try it on. Tell me what you think.”
Skizz smiled, a chuckle leaving his lips as he set the hat on. Scar beamed up at him, a smile that seemed so friendly and so shark-like at the same time. Scar turned to Mumbo, gesturing over at Skizz as he spoke.
“What do you think Mumbo? Do you think this hat suits him?”
The hat looked utterly ridiculous on Skizz in the best way possible. A thing that Mumbo didn’t know was possible until now, he never really had seen Skizz in a hat before.
“It does. You know, I think Impulse would like it.”
Scar’s smile somehow got sharper, latching onto the name.
“Impulse?”
It was Skizz who responded, a smile on his face.
“My boyfriend.”
“Oh! How wonderful! You know, I’ve got a similar hat around here somewhere, what color do you think fits him best?”
“Yellow, though his favorite color is purple.”
“Oh! I’ve got just the hat! A purple top hat with a gold ribbon and gold chains hanging off of it! Mumbo-”
Mumbo grabbed the hat just as Scar began describing it, handing it to Scar before he could finish asking.
“See? What do you think?”
Mumbo spoke before Skizz could, used to this form of banter with Scar. It was second nature by this point, even if he hadn’t known Scar for longer than a few weeks.
“I think it would suit Impulse well.”
“Wonderful! You know I’ll give you a discount, a two for one discount on the hats! 25 gold pieces! A wonderful price, don’t you think, Mumbo?”
Now. Mumbo knew that each hat was around 10 to 15 gold, he also knew that those two hats together would likely end up costing 25 to 30 gold normally, making the price nowhere near the discount that he was making Skizz believe it was. However, Scar’s smile was so wide and he knew that Skizz carried more than that with him normally, so he played along.
“Certainly.”
“What do you say?”
Skizz doesn’t speak, just nods as he counts out 25 gold for Scar, thanking them both as he leaves, likely to find Impulse and give him the hat that he had bought for him.
That evening on the ride back to the train Mumbo told Scar of the crew. He told him of how the crew had saved him, of how each of them were immortal, of how they never stayed in one place long.
Then he looked into Scar’s eyes as he finished his ramble.
“I think I’d stay here with you, if you’d let me, when it comes time for the crew to leave.”
Scar’s response was to plant a kiss on Mumbo’s hand, a small, softer smile on his face as he responded.
“Mortals die, Mumbo.”
“I know.”
“I’d love for you to stay, but I don’t want to break your heart when I die.”
Mumbo paused for a moment before he responded.
“What if you could be immortal?”
“I’d spend it with you.”
Scar pressed a kiss to Mumbo’s lips and that was where the conversation ended.
It wasn’t until a few months later that Mumbo’s greatest nightmare came true. He entered the factory and was greeted with Scar’s screams. His arm had gotten stuck in the machinery.
Scar’s eyes closed as Mumbo begged for him to keep them open, his breathing slowed as did his heart. Scar died in Mumbo’s arms as he carried him towards the ship.
Scar woke up on a bed that was not his own to Mumbo’s hand holding his.
“Scar?”
“I’m here. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
“You scared me.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“You’re stuck with me now. Immortality.”
“I wouldn’t want to spend it with anyone else.”