#I think Gem would be the one to initially bring it up to Mumbo like

[ashersbraincell]

Oh btw for any grumbo shippers(I know I reblog a lot of the pairing because! Because they just have chemistry dang it!!), be it platonic or otherwise, I just came up with a little side plot-point that could work if you tweak around some of the timing between the two.

Imagine the reason why Mumbo is greying is because he’s secretly working at Mined!! To rescue Grian from the liminal hell he resides in!!!

[ireallyliketalldarksultrymen]

for writing stuff, lizzie & mumbo perhaos? i think they'd be a silly duo (ooh if u want maybe as a hypothetical double life pair?) /vnf

lizzie and mumbo are such sillies <333 (you can find this fic here on ao3!)

—

Never in all his years did Mumbo imagine him and Lizzie having a sleepover—Void, he never expected them to be friends. Their personalities clashed, practically worlds apart; while she was outgoing and effortlessly warm, Mumbo tended to be reserved, fading into the background at times. He’d long assumed friendship between them would be improbable, if not impossible.

Yet here Mumbo was, hands folded politely as he sat on Lizzie’s bed, cross-legged atop hot pink sheets. Lizzie herself was at the vanity in front of him, chatting animatedly as she rummaged through her drawers. Her space buns bobbed with her words, and Mumbo watched, almost mesmerized.

As he listens to her ramble, loud and clear over the song humming on the record player, Mumbo’s allows for his eyes to drift around the room, taking a moment to admire her decor.

Joel didn’t exaggerate when he told him her bedroom was pink—in fact, he downplayed it. The walls, the drapes, the lamp, they were shades from chewed bubblegum to carnations. The latter so happened to rest in a rose pink clay pot on the windowsill.

There are few contrasts to the rest of the room; stood inches from her dresser was a bookshelf, which barely held novels. Sea shells and rocks painted in their own ways sat on the ledge, detailed in acrylic paints. Vinyl records lined the remaining shelves in a rainbow gradient, dark reds bleeding into deeper violets. Mumbo makes a mental note to ask her about her favorite artist.

Right of the windowsill is a poster of band he’d always be familiar with. Gem, Impulse, and Scott were posed with their instruments on the stage of their very first venue, sporting shirts tailored to their favorite colors, accompanied by embroidered initials.

When Mumbo squints hard enough, he can make out the cursive written in Sharpie on the top corner, which is marked with three different signatures that vary in neatness.

A platter of what were formerly cookies was put aside at the foot of her bed, crumbs and chocolate chunks its only remains. Mumbo’s only a tiny bit embarrassed to admit to scarfing down the cookies after the first bite.

Without warning, the bed dips as Lizzie plops down beside him, carefully balancing a handful of nail polish bottles. She grins, simping the assortment between them. “Alright!” she exclaims, looking excited. “What color are we going for?”

Mumbo glances down at the small, powerful army spread out across the blanket and realizes he has absolutely no idea where to start.

After a moment’s hesitation, he thinks he’s settled on a shade,  from his peripheral catches his eye, so Mumbo’s positive he’ll settle on that one—but, no, turns out there’s a whole other color that suits him better and, oh, he’s lost.

At this point, his hand hovers over one bottle before he snatches it back, repeating the gesture with the caution of someone touching a hot stove.

Finally, he groans, pulling his hands over his face. “Sorry, I just—“

“It’s okay!” Lizzie’s voice is warm and steady, coaxing Mumbo to pull away his hands away from his face.

He looks up and her smiling at him with a reassuring glint her eyes, full of understanding. “Here, let me see if…”

Lizzie starts to rifle through the pile, nose scrunched as her eyes carefully examines each bottle, and moment Mumbo feels ridiculous, fully convinced they wouldn’t be able to find the right color for him, but the gasp Lizzie lets grasps his attention.

“A-ha!” She triumphantly holds up a bottle, brandishing it like a prized trophy. “Looks like we’ve found your match!”

Lizzie brings up her other hand, placing her nails and the bottle side by-side. “It’s the shade I’m wearing!” she explains, grinning.

Mumbo tilts his head, studying the polish in her hand. The bottle was half-filled with a rose-gold paint, which shimmer slightly with glitter. He feels a smile tug at his lips. “It’s…perfect.”

Lizzie lets out a cheer, raising her arms in victory. The sight of her happy makes a sense of pride coil in Mumbo’s stomach.

Once her enthusiasm settles, she reaches over and gently presses her and Mumbo’s palms together. “See? Now we can even be matching!”

Mumbo looks at the hands, grinning at the sight of her painted nails against his plain ones. He can’t help but feel a flutter of excitement. So towards the end of the night, when the lamp on the bedside table is turned off and the sound of crickets chirping can be heard beyond the window, Mumbo settles in his sleeping bag, admiring his nails as they glow in moonlight.

[fountainpenguin]

Your fic "Shut Up and Fish" got me thinking... are you implying that Grian's snail is a spark?

"Shut Up and Fish"

"That's hard," Grian concedes, not looking up. The pink snail's watching, its tail patting the dirt. Grian cradles the turquoise snail's limp eyestalk in his hand. Snails are tricky creatures… They don't signal their injuries with the crook of their tails like dogs do, and they're not immune to fall damage like cats. Gingerly, easily, he brings the snail's neck to his chest and gives it a little hug. He makes a little noise. This world is beautiful if you know where to look. "Please," begs the voice in the wrinkles of his damp and dripping clothes. "You'd be a better dad to Tim. You'd be a better husband- I want what YOU have… That's MY life. Give me back my body!" Grian ignores this, peppering sloppy kisses on the snail's sweet head. It nudges into him, cuddly and sloppy and alive. Beautiful, sparked son of a thing. He'll tell Grumbot sometime, but Grumbot might not love to know he's got a snail for a younger brother now. And he laughs again, because it's stupid. It's just… It's really stupid. But he nuzzles the snail and the snail nuzzles back, and the voice in his head wails and scratches at him in the strain of Gem's boat anchor against the pebbles and sand.

In the Pixels Imperfect canon, a creature or build that is portrayed as having sentience beyond that of its basic mob AI (if applicable) needs an AI spark. Grumbot and Jrumbot are perfect examples of "portrayed as sentient" vs. "offhand joke about the build being a child, but not followed through with." Jrumbot is a non-sentient build and Grumbot is a sentient one.

Grian's snail is played as sentient - Grian even makes a huge deal about Scar "not playing the game right and making the snails do things they wouldn't do" - so in the Pixels canon, the snail is a sparked build.

Sparks don't have to be perceived as offspring- they simply embody whatever the intended roleplay was. Grumbot initially referred to Grian and Mumbo as Creator 1 and Creator 2 in Hermitcraft canon, then swapped to addressing them as dads after a certain point (to their surprise), which underscores the idea that in-universe, he is sentient and making his own decisions.

That said, Grian considers the snail his biological son, yes. His baby boy who does crime.

I have some news about Box from Double Life, wheeze...... BigB made it VERY clear in canon that Box is sentient enough to "say its first word," and Ren jumped up and down all giddy exclaiming that he was "such a proud papa," confirming that he sees it as his child.

When they're in couple's therapy, BigB explains that he "knew Ren would like it if Box had a hand so it could reach out and give him a hug." Also, special spotlight on BigB bragging about how "Box is going to need to find a soulmate" because that's so funny. I like how after BigB goes red, he invites Martyn to Box, he says "We look forward to seeing you. That's 'we' as in me and Box."

Shout-out to Martyn and Cleo getting "We will take care of Box in your absence" signed and agreed by Ren and BigB "by law and by will." Sorry you two are horribly broken up, but congrats on ur giant son. They will not nurture it, but they will definitely look at it and go "... Huh."

Guess who has one thumb, canonically wears a monocle and walks around looking like it's been "punched in the face," is technically in the Clocker family tree via Martyn, rocks he/it pronouns, and is heir apparent to Dogwarts in the Neighborhood Watch AU.

[epicfranb]

GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS i got an idea for a new au 😅 BUT HEY i believe it's ,y first actual Life Series AU, and i called it: nth life_

The usual team, no new characters, no lizzie and mumbo (sorry lizzie and mumbo), they get 3 lives (tho that could be changed) and their goal is... to survive in the void. (inspired by this video lololol)

Initially i wanted them to have some time on the surface, they they have to go down and survive in the void for as long as they can. i struggled to imagine how that would go, so i uh... accidentally might've made a Made in Abyss crossover 😅

So, each session, the guys go down lower and lower in the world. first it's just caves, then it's the deep dark, then they start going deeper and deeper... the nether and the end are also layers, they can't just go there whenever they want. And i want to add some cool mc mods in there to spice things up (mostly so layers are cool and different, but also mods that let them find or make food where there isn't any in vanilla)

Now, i don't want to copy Made in Abyss in that going back to the upper levels has more negative effects the lower you go, but i do want some sort of drawback to doing so. I think the lower levels could be opened up gradually, so nobody rushes, and the lower you go, the better materials and equipment you can get, so players are discouraged from staying in one place for too long, and setting up permanent bases IS NOT ALLOWED. You do need materials from every level to survive the void though.

Void really fucks with people's heads. The closer they are to it, the more paranoid and anxios they become. Some wil also become aggressive, have hallucinations or derealization, thinking they're in previous season or in a different series bringing up things that didn't happen and people that aren't there (Grian searching for Mumbo? Etho paranoid that Gem is out to get him? Pearl and Cleo feeling like Lizzie and Gem respectively possess them?)

With that, i think it could start out silly,similar to how the normal series usually goes, but, as theygo down, it gets more serious in tone and even steps into the horror category. that could be neat.

I either don't want watchers there at all, or have a non-obvious interpretation from fanon? Something like in OFF, DDLC or Undertale, where the player is a separate character in the story, but here it's the reader. Idk yet if the reader will be able to make choices or not. Could intepret watchers in some fun way, but only if it adds something to the story. They don't need to be there and they're only canon to Martyn anyway im pretty sure

I guess the reader could make a choice of whose story to follow, mirroring how you choose POV's when you're watching the actual series. Like, Martyn and Cleo are doing something, and there's Joel and Scar somewhere else at the same time, and you choose who to watch. Could also add replayability/rereadbility (is that a word??)

I imagine the whole thing as a text adventure, with cryptic vibes like "breaking the 4th wall/they know they're in a game" and "liminal space/backrooms". there could also be puzzles for the audience to solve to make it more engaging and immersive :)

Maybe i could start out by deciding who teams up with who. I don't want to pair up people who i actually want to pair up, cuz that could make me focus solely on them (looks at clethubs), but i still want the teams to go well together and have fun dynamics.

Some brainstorms from 1 am me:

For Jimmy, i want him to team with someone as stupid+silly+goofy like himself. Current options include: BigB, Martyn, Skizz (i might go w him) and Ren. Any combination of them could also work.

The team i'm 100% decided on is... Etho, Pearl and Cleo. Girlbosses + a wet rag

Joel and Bdubs would be suuuuper fun. Tango, Joel and Bdubs? Do i want a team that just gonna yell at eahc other all the time? Perhaps yes,

But Scott and Bdubs... sounds chaotic.

I want Grian with Impulse!!

Scar and Ren are left? Scar and Joel could be a good combo.

Aaaand that's everything for now. It's not an au i believe i can work on by myself though. as much as i like this concept, it feels like one of those that i will abandon very quickly, especially seeing as i have other au's i'd like to work on... but i want to at least do a lil bit on this one!! so uh... if anyone gets the vision and wants to collab... i invite u :D