The Bull's Horns

Ch 17: Baby Steps

Mumbo stayed well into the night chatting with Ren and Doc, letting himself relax around the dog hybrid. The creeper hybrid was happy to report that he and Ren had made up quickly when he had first visited. It turns out Doc had been the first visitor to see Ren after he was awake and well enough for visitors, a close second being Bdubs. As the creeper talked about how happy he was that Ren was back to his old self again Mumbo could see the love in the hybrid's eyes.

The bovine chuckled to himself as the pair seemed oblivious, even as they actively were holding each other's hand, but he didn't see any need to say anything. Those two were closer to each other than they realized or were too nervous to admit it. But they would figure it out on their own time, and for the time being, it would be a little inside joke for the mustached hermit. Ren was also happy to report that he and Bdubs had their own heart-to-heart about the former king's actions and multiple apologies had been exchanged. Mumbo was glad to hear that as he didn't want Ren to lose any friends because of a stupid corrupted gem. The dog hybrid also explained how he planned on reaching out to more hermits who were negatively impacted and apologized when he could. It was a step in the right direction in undoing the hurt that Ren caused under the influence of that gem.

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Soon enough, news quickly spread of Ren's recovery and the server had calmed down significantly now that he wasn't a tyrannical King of the server. The hermits had echoed that a tense mood had lifted from the server now that the dog hybrid was back to his normal self again. News of the gem and its effect also spread throughout the server which made Mumbo worry if the hermit would ask him the same question Ren had. Thankfully none of the hermits seemed to even bring it up in the slightest and were more worried about how Ren and him were doing.

A couple of days after Mumbo had visited Ren the dog hybrid was up and about, all healed up and back to his normal self, and was planning a king-sized cleanup. The whole server had been invited and Mumbo was happy to join and help out, anything to remove any reminders of the evil king and that gem. A majority of hermits had joined and Mumbo found himself talking to some hermits he hadn't seen or spoken to in a long time. It was nice to catch up but he had been nervous about the crowd that had shown up to help and dreaded hermits asking about his sudden horns. But surprisingly, other than a couple of hermits complimenting his horns, no one else had said anything to him about the features that had suddenly appeared. Everyone was more focused on tearing down billboards and anything king-related which had been more fun than it should've been as someone had brought TNT to use. It was such a fun community clean-up event that had turned into a group hangout when everything that needed fixing or demolishing was done.

Mumbo couldn't help but keep an eye on Ren throughout the day, either because of lingering nerves or how often the other hermits would give him ear scratches and head pats with permission. The bovine couldn't help but wish for the same, he always melted when Grian or Scar rubbed his ears. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous watching Ren freely have his ears patted or rubbed. Such a simple gesture made him consider trying to voluntarily tell another hermit (I'm looking at you X), or possibly a group of hermits. Maybe he could take a baby step. He could tell Horn Gang and get their reaction, which would help him gauge some more hermit's reactions before taking a bigger step. Another step in his goal of having the whole server know.

Of course, there will be some things that he'll never tell the hermits, but they would get to know the majority of his hybridness. His udder would have to continue to stay a secret, diving into that would be descending into his past much more than he would like. It was one of the constant reminders that would make him pause some days when he would change and suddenly feel a bit sick looking at himself. Like it was a stain on one of his favorite suits that no matter how hard he tried to clean it it still stayed.