Chapter Text
"Grian? Are you finally ready? I swear, the wagon is about to take off without us! You know I'll just fly there if that happens!"
"Sorry, Jim... But I'm too worried to leave anything important behind!" Before Grian finally closed his backpack, he quickly shoved in a small, old family photo. "All done now!"
Now, before the two of them left the house, they had to collect their goodbye-hugs from their adoptive parents, Xb and Keralis.
It's a wild story. Just about when he was 5, Grian just nearly escaped death in the form of a fire burning his family home down. No one but him survived. Being so young and not knowing what to do, he was lost in a seemingly endless forest, where Xb and Keralis stumbled across him.
They just adopted a son, Jimmy, the year before that, and thought it was nice for both of them to have a brother. Thankfully, Grian was so young at the time, he barely remembered much of his live before the tragedy. Still, he always makes sure to have the only thing left on him: an old family photo.
So, Jimmy and Grian are forever eternally grateful to Keralis and Xb, Grian even taking after Keralis and becoming an architect. But... They were just really itching to go out into the big city. But not just any big city...
"Wow Princess, look at them!", Keralis started with an obvious over the top dramaticness, "Just 26 and already working for the crown! Imagine all the money Grian will make!"
As an answer, Xb left out a snicker: "Yeah, and I'm sure he will definetly send some to his poor parents that let him live here for so long?"
Now, it was Grians turn to laugh. "Well, I totally would, but first of all I have to worry about feeding Jimmy too! He just doesn't seem to he good at anything!"
"Hey! Some people are just late bloomers. I guess.. I will find something I'm good at!"
After some more friendly banter, and also several people sitting in their "bus" wagon, shouting from outside to hurry up, they finally said their goodbyes. It's not like the main city is super far away, but it was a good hour or so on a vehicle or horse. So, visits would probably not be too frequent, even though Jimmy, being a canary-type avian, could fly there much faster. But he doesn't want to feel bad being the only one visiting all the time.
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"Mumbo, by the way... did you remember the new royal architect will be arriving soon?", Martyn stated carefully, fully knowing the moustached king did very much forget, but did not want to embarass him.
"Of...course I did! Yeah! Any word of him yet?", Mumbo asked, slightly nervous.
"Not that I know of, but I asked Wels to tell us once he arrives."
"That was very smart... You know, I feel like without a right hand man like you, this castle would've fallen a long time ago!", King Mumbo said jokingly, although it wasn't too far off from the truth.
He suddenly had to become king at the age of 16, just over 10 years ago now. Both of his parents have died, although Mumbo can't really say he was all that sad about it, since their relationship always just felt more like a boss-employee type deal.
Early on, he was prepared for his future as a king, but he didn't think that future would come so soon at the time. But if anything, it was the best thing to happen to the castle and the surrounding city.
The Kingdom of Hermitopia used to be a kingdom like any other, but Mumbo turned it all around. There actually was one single reason for him looking forward to being a king: Turning this kingdom into a welcoming place for everyone. Hybrids, magical beings, you name it. People that would normally only live by their own kind, since regular humans without any powers, as well as other hybrids and similar, were always sceptical. Everyone was sceptical of everyone.
It was a very childish dream, so maybe having a child as a king for a while was surprisingly effective. Martyn, his retainer and right hand man, was the one being both like a big brother to him and also the ultimate secretary. Passing laws and deciding on anything was something the king did only with his help.
The thing is, Mumbo never really wanted to be king, if it wasn't for his wish. But after this was fulfilled, he didn't have anything to work for anymore. Put frankly, he was bored of being a king and barely did anything, was socially awkward and mostly avoided doing any kingly duties, but he was also kind.
Needless to say, he was well liked by the royal workers and he also knew that he could rely on them. Now, his parents weren't exactly mean tyrants, but they were definetly very strict and wanted to keep their fierce and strong image.
"Mumbo! The new architect and his brother both just arrived!", Wels shouting from the other side of the door cut him out of his reminiscing thoughts.
Stepping out of the throne room, he thanked Wels and let him lead both Mumbo and Martyn to the new royal employee.
Arriving in the courtyard, they quickly spotted the two and walked over to them. Before Mumbo could even let a word out, both of the blonde siblings saluted with a serious expression and exclaimed in unison: "Good morning, Mr. King Mumbo!"
Immediately, the mentioned king let out a warm laugh. "Oh, relax you two. Welcome to the castle! Everyone just calls me Mumbo, I'm quite relaxed about this. I take it you must be Grian, and this is your brother Jimmy?"
Grian nodded, "Yup! And man I'm glad... I was scared that if I ever forgot to say 'king', there was a trained sharpshooter putting an arrow clean through my head.", he deadpanned.
Taken aback, Mumbo blinked a few times. "Did you really think I was that cruel...?"
"No! No! This was a joke! Or well, I was just exaggerating- I'm kind of nervous... Working for the king really is such a high honour, I am truly thankful!"
Relieved, the king continued: "Well, that is nice to hear! So, do you want to settle down and live somewhere in the castle, or do you want to build your own house in the surroundin area here? I'm open to both, a lot of the workers built their own houses here. It's almost like its own small town in a way."
"Oh, I'd absolutely love building my own home! This sounds wonderful!"
"Great! There's a hut here with tons of materials for building to use. Martyn, can you show him?"
As a response, Martyn nodded. "I'll be taking over from here then, I'm Martyn, nice to meet you all!"
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"Please, at least take your weapons with you Gem!"
"Please... Bdubs, I always have them with me.", Gem answered after a sigh and eyeroll-combo.
"Okay, fine! Just making sure! It's super duper dangerous in the forest, so be careful!"
"Yeees, I got it! Stop sounding like my dad, I'm probably stronger than whatever could be in this forest! Now goodbye!"
Before waiting for an answer, Gem turned around and made a run for it. She just wanted to explore the nearby forest after hearing all the rumours about it. Apparently, a witch and a creaking were both lurking in it and spying on possible victims.
Sounded like nonsense... Plus, there haven't been any serious creaking incidents in literal decades! But after a while in that forest, she did feel like she was...being watched. To test her theory, Gem suddenly turned around, and right after, she heard someone tread on some twigs and a very quiet "Damnit!" being whispered.
"Helloooo?", Gem immediately shouted, very brave of her, as always.
"You heard nothing! Continue!", she heard a woman answer, putting on a jokingly silly voice.
"Well, now your cover is blown and you have to come out!"
After a few seconds, there was a defeated sigh and the source of the voice slowly came up to Gem. And she definetly didn't want to be rude, but at first she just stared at the figure appearing in front of her. She was wearing a long, red hood which almost made her look lile a grownup Red Riding Hood, and she also had a long scar across one of her eyes.
Not really sure why, Gem both found her very beautiful, but scary- her very red outfit and overall aura made her feel this way, she thinks.
"Well, I guess you got me! The name's Pearl, what about you?", the mysterious hooded figure spoke so nicely that all fear immediately left Gem's body.
"Oh, I'm Gem! Wait... are you the witch of the forest I heard all the rumours about?"
"Witch?", Pearl started to giggle, "I'm no witch, no. I do know one though, but she barely leaves this forest and is really nice. Do you want to meet her?"
"Uh, maybe another day. But what about the creaking? Is there one here?"
"Oh yeah, he's my friend!" After finishing her sentence, Pearl pointed at Gem. Or...behind her? With a weird feeling, Gem turned around and almost had a heart attack when she saw a creaking-like person stand almost right in front of her.
Some fear returned to her, but as both Pearl and the creaking started to laugh, she turned to Pearl again with a pouting face.
"Hey! That' wasn't very nice! But I can definetly see where the rumours are coming from now..."
"Hm, well, we don't like going out much, so most people never even see us, and just feel our presence from watching them through the trees.", Pearl explained.
"Oh yeah sure, and that's totally not creepy at all! Who is your friend, by the wa..." Gem turned around while talking, but the creaking from earlier is already gone. With a puzzled expression, she turned to Pearl again.
"Don't mind him, Bigb is a bit shy with strangers, but he's the absolute sweetest! That, and we both love spooking people a bit for fun."
"I guess I understand? But where do you live, just in the forest somewhere?"
"Yeah, that's about it. I built my humble abode and also helped Bigb build his, we're practically neighbours, not that there's any people directly next to us..."
"I see... So, do you not like living in the city or a town, then? Isn't this boring after a while?"
"Oh, not at all! I love going through the forest and just relaxing, I also made friends with all the wolves living in here! And then, you know, the spying on and scaring people thing."
Gem giggled, "If it keeps you entertained, I guess. To be fair, I'm not leaving the place I stay at that often and prefer to just stay with the horses I work all day."
"Oh, horsies! That's sweet!", Pearl sounded genuinely excited, which made Gem smile and nod. "Yes, and that's just what they are! Super nice and adorable. Maybe you can meet them when you feel comfortable leaving the forest?"
"Really? That sounds great! Wait, do you maybe want some tea? Wanna see my cool house?"
Now... Normally, Gem isn't one to carelessly follow strangers, especially not ones spying on her just moments prior, or having enough rumours about them for the whole town to avoid them, but there was something so nice about Pearl's presence that she didn't feel suspicious at all.
She's just hoping her stomach feeling is right and she won't get fed to the wolves she mentioned earlier or something like that. "Sure, why not?", Gem eventually answered after a bit of thinking.
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It was already dark outside, and both Grian and Jimmy sat in a temporary guest room in the castle. They were just done packing all of their luggage in whatever storage places they could find, when a giggle escaped Grian.
"I just thought back to earlier today, when we met king- I mean Mumbo. He was so nice and welcoming, I genuinely wonder where all the rumours and his nicknames come from. Like what do you mean with Lonely King? Somber King? Hello?"
Jimmy turned to him and nodded, before answering: "Exactly! I'll be honest I was a bit scared, especially since I'm not even working here and just being a freeloader but it was really nice. That Martyn guy, too! No wonder people really like working here, despite the rumours."
"Yeah, but still, we might have to be careful, what if they're just testing us? Or make a good impression first, and then become really mean? Okay, nevermind, that sounds stupid. Plus, I don't want Mumbo turning out to be some evil tyrant king, he was so adorable!"
"Adorable? Really Grian? You've spoken to him for what, two minutes?"
"Well I'm a good judge of character! I think his fancy moustache really adds to it, you'd expect him to be all serious and stern, but he immediately was really sweet."
"I uhh...I see where you're coming from? But I don't think you'll get to talk to him that much, he's the king after all and probably busy every day."
"I guess...", Grian sighed, "Oh well, there are a lot of other people here to make friends with! Or we could cause some friendly mischief-"
"Grian, no! Absolutely not! I'm all for that normally, but this is a castle, we're not leaving this place alive if we cause any trouble."
"Aw man, what are you, the royal fun guard?"
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"Hey, is everything alright with you Mumbo?", Martyn asked carefully.
"Huh? Of course, why?", the king answered, clearly a bit nervous.
"Well it's just... You seem to be completely different today? Suddenly so nice and talkative earlier, and now you've been hiding in your room ever since?"
"Oh, that! Yeah, I just needed some me time, you know how it is with me and too many interactions!"
"Hm. Sure. But you know you can tell me anything and I won't judge. Okay, that was a lie, I will and have judged you a lot, but I can't exactly punish you for being embarassing."
A chuckle escaped Mumbo before he answered. "That is true. Okay, this does sound really embarrassing and you will judge me. But I kinda want to be friends with that new architect? Grian? I just think it would be so weird for the king to come up to a random worker being like 'Hey mate, wanna be friends?', like a kid on the playground. Anyway, because of that, I've kind of been hiding away here, to prevent myself from saying something awkward!"
This time, it was Martyn's turn to laugh. "Really? The things you break your head over are problems I wish I had... Wow. I genuinely don't think anyone would care, if anything, they'd be thrilled someone as powerful as the king would want to be their friend! You have to see things like these from the other perspective. Hm, and if he were to embarass or reject you, you can always send him to the dungeons!"
"Woah, woah, woah, wait! This might be a bit of an overreaction!"
"I wouldn't be surprised if you pulled a move like that out of fear, though..."
"Hey, I might be socially awkward, but I'm not cruel..."
"I guess that is true to some extent."
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"Do you like the tea?", Pearl asked with a wide grin that would probably scare off some people, but Gem found it endearing and smiled at her when she responded:
"Yes, it's wonderful! Especially in a nice house like this. I can't believe you built this all by yourself!"
"Aw, thank you Gemmie! I can build you one too if you want- or we can build you one together!"
A bit embarassed, but smiling at the nickname she was already given, Gem giggled. "Wow, you're already planning our future Pearly? Take me out to a date first, geez!"
"Oh, isn't that what this here is?"
"Wait, r-really?", Gem exclaimed with a bit of blush on her face.
But Pearl then giggled, "I mean, I didn't plan it to be one, but if you'd want it to be?"
"Hm, well, now I can't say no, can I?" Gem was such an embarassing fool. Acting like a stuttering mess barely one or two hours since meeting this... weird woman. It's not exactly something bad, being weird, so maybe this is what somehow attracts her to the other. This, and maybe also the immense height difference between the two of them, she's got a bit of a weakness for that...
Still, with this big air of mystery around Pearl, Gem can't help but think she's making bad choice after bad choice the more they keep talking.
"Oh, Pearl, by the way, what do you even do for a living out here?", Gem asked after a short and quiet thinking pause.
"Just some odd jobs here and there, mostly doing cleaning request though!"
"Cleaning? This sounds oddly...normal?"
"Hey, what does that mean? That I'm not normal?", Pearl said with an exaggerated pouting face, which made the other giggle.
"Sorry, it just was surprising! I'm also doing something quite mundane, I'm working at a stable at the moment. But I applied for a royal ranch job at the castle recently and I thiiiink I've got pretty good chances!"
"Wow, that sounds neato! Let me know if you get accepted, alright? I don't talk about this often, but I actually know the king, Mumbo, personally. He hired me for some cleaning before! I think word goes around far when you're the best cleaning lady in town!", the dark blonde said with a proud grin.
"Wait, that's so cool! But surely with that, uh, resumee you'd be able to work there full-time?"
"Maybe? But the thing is that I don't really want to leave my home and neighbourhood, it's so cozy with all my friends here! Of course, the castle isn't far away and I'd maybe be able to keep living here, but you know..."
"I totally get it! It's definetly a lot of commitment if you want to work for the king."
"Exactly. But... If you were to get hired, would you live in the castle...?" Suddenly Pearls eyes were the most adorable sad puppy eyes the world has ever seen."Of course not! I want to live here now too! It really does seem cozy!" And with that, the pathetic look turned into a wide, contagious grin.