The election.
Oh no.
The election is today.
Grian had completely forgotten that Mumbo was running for mayor! He scrambled about, gathering posters while putting on his white, promotional t-shirt. He tried to push his wings beneath, but it hurt the joints, so he ended up slitting the back of yet another shirt. Soft leather tightened around his shoulders as he strapped on his elytra and hastily folded his wings beneath it. It looked a bit odd, but if he kept wearing it, no one would notice.
He shuffled away the pile of purple garments he had made the day before into a secluded corner of his base, and slid the mask into his inventory, for safekeeping.
He emerged from his base and into the bright sunlight, wincing as it glared into his eyes. His elytra spread out as he lifted off, soaring over trees and ocean.
The ocean was peaceful, small white-capped waves moving lazily across the surface. Sunlight danced merrily as it shone into the water, and clouds of fish darted this way and that.
Up ahead, a large island emerged. Greyish-purple mycelium coating the land, giving off small grey poofs of spores every now and again. Huge mushrooms, looming far above player height, rose from the ground. They were bright vermillion with white speckles and domed caps, or light chocolatey mushrooms with flat tops, like tables made for giants. Most of the island, however, was coated in a diverse selection of buildings. Lakes and ponds stood between them, warm and shallow.
Grian alighted in the centre, where several empty vials stood. Coloured dust was piled in chests in front of each. Quite a few hermits had already gathered in front of the massive town hall, chatting with each other jovially. Laughter floated through the entire district. Making his way over, Grian darted up to the hermits, waving merrily. A few waved back with a smile.
Once he had made his way past his friends, Grian entered one of the voting booths and filled out a small slip of paper. He took a moment. All of his planning, all of his support for Mumbo, all of it came down to this.
He took a deep breath, and scrawled down his vote.
Once he had put it into the chest, he closed his eyes, loading all of the voting slips into a shulker box, including the votes for dogcatcher. Once he had finished, he emerged from the wooden stalls.
"Now we just need to wait for everyone to gather 'round!" He exclaimed, talking to himself. He smiled and plopped down onto a nearby staircase.
~ ⬩ ᒲ ᓭℸ ⬩ ~
Finally, there were enough people to start. He was astonished at the turnout. He quickly listed them off, counting to make sure everyone was here.
False, Mumbo, Cub, Joe, Beef, Etho, iJevin, Tango, Hypno, Impulse, Wels, xB, Bdubs.
Grian noticed that Xisuma wasn't present. That was odd.
He said that he would be.
Grian shrugged. It was time to begin.
"Welcome, everybody to... I guess... the announcement? It was just yesterday we all gathered together for some bad news, but this meeting is for some good!" He looked around, noticing many people wearing supportive Mumbo moustaches.
"I'm pleased to see so many moustaches in the audience today, this bodes well!" A few chuckles rose from the crowd.
"Right, we've actually got quite a lot of votes to get through, so I reckon we should crack on."
Grian took a few dramatic moments to read off all of the votes for dog-catcher.
They were all in Joe's favour except one, which voted for Daffy Duck. After they had all finished congratulating Joe, Grian moved on to the mayoral polls.
"The first vote is for... Stress!"
Polite claps resounded from the audience as pink powder was deposited into the vial for stress.
"The next one is for... False!"
Yellow powder was added to False's vial and more soft applause ensued.
He announced the next vote simply, "GoodTimesWithScar!"
The next few minutes were spent listing out the votes. After all had been said, Grian announced the totals.
"False got five votes, Stress got six, Mumbo got..."
Grian heaved a sigh.
"...Mumbo got zero votes, and finally, Scar comes out on top with 8 votes!"
As the powder on Scar's vial was filled to the top, a firework shot up, sending bright orange sparks twirling through the air.
Grian laughed.
"Mumbo... We... we didn't get a single vote..."
"I- I know Grian..." Mumbo chucked, "We'll... We'll be having talks later..."
"Alright." Grian responded, and he began to laugh as he realized that neither his moustached friend or himself had voted for Mumbo.
Scar removed his promotional merchandise, sighing, "I'm so glad to take that moustache off..."
They all laughed and messed around for a bit, congratulating Scar and complimenting him on his new position as mayor.
Upon the horizon, Grian spotted something dark, watching the events unfold from a distance. Grian's smile faded.
Suddenly, as his friends rejoiced around him, Grian's vision flashed. The world took on a purple hue, and his head began to throb.
towards him, calling his name.
Suddenly, the feeling subsided. His friends were gathered around him, and Scar tried to reach out and help him out.
Panicking, Grian flinched back, dodging Scar's helping hand. This garnered even more concerned looks, especially from his jungle friends.
"I'm all good... I've just been having a few headaches lately."
His friends began to hesitantly disperse again, casting him some concerned looks. Cleo paused for longer.
"You sure, Grian? You look paler than usual." She laughed.
"Yeah! I'm all good!" Grian responded, the usual spark of enthusiasm returning to his eyes. He got up with shaky hands, and continued rejoicing Scar's success.
~ ⬩ ꖎᒷᔑ⍊ᒷ ̣ ⬩ ~
"Hello, not-mayor..."
"Hi..."
He and Mumbo were on the end rods in front of their robotic creation, Grumbot. Grian felt a pang of guilt. He had somewhat neglected Grumbot since they had built him, leaving him to be taken care of by Mumbo. The robot seemed to regard them both as parents, and both Grian and Mumbo saw the gigantic robot as their son. The bot was inactive at the moment, probably asleep. Grian whispered to Mumbo, trying not to wake him.
"I... I think we should let him believe you won.."
"You know, I was thinking the same thing..." Mumbo responded sadly.
"It's for the best. He'll be happy. " Grian stated.
With no further conversation, they set to work. They built a giant enclosure, big enough to convince Grumbot that the reality he was in was true. They added a moustache to show Mumbo had won, and the build was complete. Mumbo put together a quick mayoral outfit, and then stood in front of their mechanical son, ready to introduce him to the false reality he would live in for the rest of his days.
Grian took out a diamond, and etched something into it. His hands were still shaking, and he almost dropped the precious gemstone.
Mumbo Won the Race! :)
He hesitated for a moment, looking back at Mumbo, but his friend nodded. He slid the jewel into a slot and pressed some buttons on Grumbot. The robot seemed to be awake now. He looked down at his dads and his eyes stared at them fondly. His moustache shook a bit as he thought.
A small sheet of paper shot out of a slot.
GRUMBOT'S LIFE HAS MEANING.
Grian and Mumbo sat down and looked fondly at their son. He was happy now. For the first time, his eyes were bright, twinkling with the robotic equivalent of joy. However, they briefly switched to sadness as one more sheet of paper shot out.
Mumbo picked it up and read it.
The redstone engineer turned to look at Grian, concerned. Grian stared back, "What does it say?"
Mumbo silently passed him the paper.
MAYOR DAD, IS OTHER DAD OKAY?
"I'm..." he began to say okay, but choked on his words. The past few weeks rushed back to him.
No... no, I'm not okay... what do I do?
Grian swallowed, and tried again, "I'm o-okay."
Mumbo looked into his eyes and whispered, "Grian, you are clearly not. For the sake of Grumbot, you can tell him you are, but... you know you can tell me anything, right?"
Grian sighed and nodded, "I'll tell you after we finish this."
He walked up to Grumbot. His son's eyes were still sad, concerned for him. He etched another diamond.
Don't worry, I'm fine!
Grumbot shuffled his moustache, and this time there was no response. His eyes went back to happiness, and he seemed to shut down, falling asleep again.
They exited behind Grumbot, just in case he was still awake, and sat on the roof of the simulation.
"Okay, what has been going on with you lately? You almost completely abandoned my mayoral campaign, you haven't been building ANYTHING, and whenever I come to your base, the doors are locked. You've been looking really pale lately, are you alright?"
Grian faced a moment of indecision. It felt so terrible, to have the weight of his secrets on his chest. Maybe he could trust Mumbo. He was his friend. Steeling himself, he made his decision. "You... have to promise you won't tell anyone..." Grian spoke softly.
Mumbo put a hand over his heart.
"I swear I will keep your secret, Grian."
Grian looked about, then gestured for Mumbo to follow.
"Come with me."
~ ⬩ ℸ ̣⍑╎ᓭ ⬩ ~
Mumbo chuckled, "I didn't even know there was a mesa down here!"
Grian nodded.
Mumbo went to put a hand on Grian's shoulder, but he winced away.
"Grian...?"
Grian's face was dark and nervous. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and then opened them, "You promise?" he asked one more time, pleadingly.
"Of course buddy." Mumbo reassured him.
Grian took a deep breath, reached up, and took off his elytra.
Shining white wings spread out in the sun, magnificent and breathtaking. Silver and light purple feathers glinted like stars, winking at him.
Mumbo took a step back.
"Grian- how?"
Grian seemed on the brink of tears.
"I- i don't know... I have no idea what's happening!"
"Hey, hey," Mumbo gave Grian a hug as the Bird-man began to cry. The funny, always cheerful attitude was peeled away as Mumbo watched his friend cry for the first time. Mumbo held him as he cried, and there they sat.
After a minute or two, Grian sat back up, wiping tears off of his face, "Sorry..." he half-sobbed, half-laughed, "I wish I knew what was going on..."
"Don't be sorry. I'm here for you. We'll figure this out, together. Besides. I think they're beautiful"
"You do?"
"I do."
As the sun set on the mesa, the two men hugged one another, A comfort in all of the uncertainty.
~ ⬩ !¡ꖎᔑᓵᒷ. ⬩ ~
Behind a veil of darkness, a creature watched them embrace. It scoffed coldly and began to collect materials. This was unacceptable. If it didn't intervene, the experiment would fail.
I won't let this happen a third time.
