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It started when he had gotten his new camera. It had been delivered to his base by Xisuma after he'd been to the Hub.
It started when he took pictures of everyone at Magic Mountain's bases. He wanted to capture the beauty and talent of the Hermits.
That's how it started.
'It' being his project to film all the Hermit's different Talents, if they would allow him to of course.
Step 1: Ask.
He went around, going from base to base starting at Magic Mountain asking.
Magic Mountain agreed the second they were asked. They even took upon themselves to help in any way possible despite their lack of filming skills.
Then he went around asking to film bases and maybe some talents the Hermits have.
Every single one of them said yes, though with some conditions of course. That was easier than he though it would be.
Step 2 was a much harder task.
It was filming.
He started with everyone at Magic Mountain.
Grian practically dragged him to his base, showing off every build with his chest puffed.
Mumbo recorded all of it, long cinematic shots and shorter shots showing different angles of buildings.
Next came Grians talent – pottery.
He’d gotten his pottery wheel and clay outside, somehow. The wheel was incredibly heavy but Mumbo just assumed it was his Watcher strength.
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It was take seven.
There had been four pottery disasters, two of which were Mumbo’s fault, and two technical issues because he wasn’t exactly sure how to use his new camera.
"Ready?" He asked.
Grian nodded.
He pressed record, giving a thumbs up to alert Grian.
Then he began.
Mumbo was mesmerized.
He always was amazed at how talented all the Hermits were.
Grian was focused, shaping the clay into a vase. Stretching it upwards, making it hollow. It was different than the standard pots found or the vases made in the Hub, this was unique. .
Slowly but surely he made the vase.
His hands messy with wet clay as he meticulously sculpted, making the base of the pot larger and oval shaped.
He carefully brought the clay up making the neck one third of the width of the base.
Then he flared the top out.
He regarded his piece for a few moments, making minute adjustments here and there before stopping the wheel.
Grabbing a carving tool and kneeling down in front of the vase, Grian started engraving a design.
It looked suspiciously similar to the angler sherd at first, before he added more designs of swirling lines and flowers.
Swiftly, Grian transferred the vaseinto his kiln that was in his storage room.
Mumbo was happy with the footage, showing Grian the video that was almost an hour long.
Before he left, he asked Grian if there was meaning to the design of his vase.
Grian responded "There is meaning in everything."
Which was a little creepy but not unlike Grian.
With that, the first clip was complete.
Next was Gem.
They were set up in front of the 'artists house' because Gem said it had the best view for painting. Mumbo believed her.
But this had to be done i one take or else they'd have to come back tomorrow. And if more mistakes were made, they'd be here for days.
That's why the pair were triple checking everything before starting.
Just as they were about the start, a voice shouted "GEEEMMMMMMM!!" from behind them.
The pair turned to see Pearl running towards them.
Gem smiled as Pearl made her way over. Mumbo sighed. It had been three days and he only had a clips of Grian's talent.
"What are you doing?" Pearl asked, tilting her head curiously.
"Painting. Do you want to paint with me?" Gem asked.
Pearl immediately agreed.
They setup another set of paints and a canvas and adjusted the camera angle. It was a wide shot, able to see what the two were painting.
After even more checks, the group was ready to start.
Mumbo hit record and the two started painting. He sat back, watching.
Each colour added something important, every brush stroke adding something necessary.
Each layer built up the paintings.
It was beautiful, the splattering of paint, textured brushstroke and vibrant colours all coming together
He was enchanted.
Once they finished there were two paintings, one a depiction of the skull and artist detailed in such away that it expresses the way the artist had gone crazy. It was very intricate. The other was a colourful painting based on the two flying fish that lived near Gem's light house.
He made a mental note to put Pearl & Gem's segments next to each other as he left.
That's how it went.
He and whichever he was filming would setup and things would typically go smoothly.
Like with Scar. How they toured his base and how he had expertly cared for the animals living in his train... then he asked to film him flying which was easy enough. Just a few adjustments. He haweyed Gem and landed where she had died, trying to convince Grian to buy life insurance just 'in case something like that ever happens to you'.
Bad example.
Skizz and Impulse however did a wonderful drum duet of a song he didn't know. But Mumbo did enjoy the show. They even showed off tehir signed drum sticks. But when they asked Mumbo to follow - while filming and flying. His camera was surprisingly steady as they flew.
The group flew to Jevins base.
The he watched in both amazement and horror while Skizz and Impulse hijacked Jevin's helicopter (recently back in Jevin's possession) and flew away with laughing like manics.
Another Bad example.
Nothing went that smoothly.
He was at Jevin's and went to film his green house full of different plants. Tomatoes, cucumbers, marigolds.
They were awesome. He even showed some pictures from when he first planted them.
It was a good time, but as he left Mumbo swore he heard Jevin muttering about getting his helicopter back.
Mumbo returned to Magic Mountain to film the last person, Joel.
Joel didn't greet him, instead he put a couple signs that read "Find the Origami Master".
He ended up finding Joel by the trail of origami cranes he had left about.
It was kinda fun - but he doesn't tell Joel that.
They started filming soon after.
Joel made so many different paper creations, all with perfect creases.
A crane whose wings can flap, a cute little paper box, a beautiful lotus flower and a ninja star which was thrown at him.
It was a short visit but fun nonetheless.
It continued like that, inkling amounts of chaos scattered through out and tied into each performance.
Tango juggled nine different items; a mini redstone block, slime ball, egg, rabbit's foot, book, emerald, yarn (made by Zedaph), a regen potion and an iron sword. He juggled for 15 minutes straight, making progressively harder.
He only stopped when Ren had scared him.
The iron sword was thrown but luckily it bounced harmlessly off of Ren's armor.
Ren didn't say anything, just wordlessly grabbed Mumbo by the arm and started flying away.
Mumbo screeched. He gripped on to Ren's arm with his other hand.
Mumbo didn't stop screaming.
He almost fainted when his feet touched the ground.
Instead, he recorded Ren doing a one man show of the musical Hamilton.
He was threatened into cutting out certain, more embarrassing scenes.
Wels brought him to a basement chamber in his castle to show his talent.
The basement chamber was a recording studio. There were vocal booths and control panels with lots of things Mumbo didn't understand but it was amazing that Wels was able to build it.
Mumbo was recording him showing off different songs he had composed along with recording of some songs.
Then Xisuma showed up.
He had brought his guitar and played one of Wels songs on it. As well as a few moe well known ones.
They were incrdible.
False brought Mumbo to the nether.
They went below the roof and flew. False led the way.
They got to a large building of nether bricks and mangrove wood.
Inside was a blacksmith.
False showed him how to make tools and blades of mixed metals. She gave him a diamond and iron mixed sword to take home. (He hung it on his wall).
False told him to bring some spices she had to xB, who she suggested he visited next.
So, he did.
Exiting the nether took a while and when he got back to the overworld it was night. A cold zombie hand gripped his leg, he could feel the bones and rotting muscles through the skin. Terrified, he launched a rocket to fly away.
He was in a cold sweat as he flew to xB's base, the cool ocean air cooling him. It was day by the time he got there.
xB had greeted him warmly, directing him towards the kitchen. The base was beautiful, guardian statues, prismarine and ocean on all sides. When Mumbo asked about it, xB had said "It's an ode to my past and those who protected me throughout my life."
xB was solemn after that. Mumbo didn't ask any more questions.
But at the moment, he was humming to himself as he cooked.
Half an hour later, the food was done.
It was the best meal Mumbo had had in months, maybe even years. A rotisserie chicken, expertly seasoned and unbelievably tender. It was paired with steamed broccoli and roasted potatoes. He devoured it. xB chuckled as he watched the scene unfold.
He sent Mumbo on his way towards Zed's base with some leftovers and blaze rods.
Bidding farewell, Mumbo entered the Nether, traveling a shorter distance to Zed's base.
At Zed's base, he struggled to find the sheep hybrid.
Searching through the different rooms, he found him in a potions room with quartz walls and a tossing mechanism for items.
Mumbo cleared his throat, announcing his presence.
Zed turned around, surprised. That surprise quickly turned into excitement.
"You're here!" He exclaimed, grabbing Mumbo.
He dragged him through the halls, making many turns. He quickly gave up trying to remember the way out. He would just ask Zedaph later. He started recording before they entered the room.
The room he was brought to was shrouded in red light.
His first thought was I am going to die
The machine with loads of beakers and such much be some kind of potent poison or make toxic gas.
He was freaking out.
Zedaph on the other hand was completely calm. Everything was there for a reason.
Zed started working, expertly pouring different vials into certain parts of the machine.
Smoke came from the last container.
Mumbo was ready to run.
Zed grabbed a ladle and scooped something out from the steaming pot.
He poured it into a bowl.
"Ta Da!" He exclaimed proudly, showing out the bowl of orange-yellow liquid.
When Mumbo just stared, Zed took the box of leftovers from his hands.
He poured the sauce generously.
Mumbo had to admit, it looked good.
He was led to a table while his host, got plates and drinks for the two of them.
They were given even portions of the leftovers.
Immediately, Zed starting digging in. Mumbo on the other hand eyed the sauce suspiciously, only taking his first bite after being prompted.
It was delectable, making an already amazing dish better.
He finished it in seconds after the first bite.
"What'd you think?" Zed asked.
"It was delectable."
Zed gave him a strange look for a second, before mumbling to himself about sauces and potions and combining the two.
That's when he realized he had strength.
Mumbo quickly left after that, though he had to be guided through the underground tunnels.
He was flying back to base, a little shaken.
Contemplating how to cut the video with mediocre video quality to make it look better when a blur passed by his vision.
That got him out of his head. He began looking around for the blur.
Something hit him square in the back.
He started falling. Fast.
Reaching to set off another firework, two arms grabbed him by his jacket.
They were now falling, aiming straight for the trees.
But at the last second, the person let go of him.
He launched a rocket to hopefully get into the sky. He soared above the trees but ultimately crash landed in front of Etho’s base.
He didn’t know who had got him but he did know that he was grateful for his armour which took the brunt of the damage. He did lose 2 hearts however.
He spit out some dirt and stood up. He brushed his suit with his hands to clean it.
He was breathing heavily, shocked and surprised and confused.
He looked down at his camera to make sure it was okay.
No scratches, the lens was proper and it was recording.
It had been recording the entire time.
Whoever it was must have turned on his camera somehow.
He took his camera off his neck, trying to see how long it had been recording.
Just as the strap was away from his body, the camera was gone.
A swoosh was all he heard.
Frantically, he started looking around for the thief. Turning every which way in search for them. In the distance, he saw a lab coat and a green bomber jacket running away.
He almost laughed. Almost.
Launching a rocket, he went up and started chasing them., He was much faster than them in the air, so it took no time at all to catch up.
The issue was the trees.
But he went for it, the branches scratching him and tearing his suit slightly as he dived through the trees. He landed in front of the pair.
"Hello," Mumbo said.
Etho and Cub stopped in their tracks. Stared at Mumbo for a second, then started laughing.
Their laughter was contagious, Mumbo started laughing as well.
Soon enough, Mumbo was handed his camera back, the pair left after offering to get him a new suit. He accepted, though he was going to fix the one he was wearing.
He reviewed the footage when he got home, it was pretty good. He added it to the hard drive.
He went to Bdubs base a few days later.
Bdubs had asked him to come late afternoon, so he did. As he flew he watched the sun start to dip lower in the sky. Soon enough he made it to Bdubs base, searching through the forest for the moss man.
It took a while to find Bdubs, as he was hiding out in some bushes "Being one with the trees," He said.
Mumbo had laughed.
They went inside as Bdubs began to explain his plan to showcase his talent.
He hadn't disclosed anything to anyone, saying that it was a surprise.
But when he'd heard what Bdubs wanted to do, he was skeptical.
He waited with Bdubs, very curious on how he'd do it. They were chatting until nightfall, when Bdubs brought them out into his forest.
The darkness swallowing them as they walked into the forest, faint lights from firefiles and the moon illuminated the forest.
It gave Mumbo the creeps being, bringing back some past memories but he persevered.
Setting up the camera was easy enough, just a few adjustments.
Bdubs was standing a few feet a way as he made sure the shorter man was in frame.
The second the camera started recording, Bdubs was on the move.
He started with shedding his moss covering, revealing an outfit similar to that he word in Limited life.
A bright light shone from where the plant man stood, so bright he'd had to shield his eyes. Mumbo wasn't quite sure how, but he was glowing. Literally.
Bdubs became a disco ball of sorts, staying the same colour of light while changing the patterns he was shining.
It was awesome.
A few minutes later, after they were done recording Mumbo asked about how he did that.
"Glowberries," He explained.
Mumbo supposed it made sense and bade farewell to his short, plant friend.
Next on the list was Joe.
Joe was mining while narrating a book. He couldn't hear what he was saying as Joe turned his neck 180 degrees to stare at him as he landed.
"Hi Joe," Mumbo said cautiously.
"Heya Mumbo!" Joe said joyously, as if he didn't just give Mumbo a heart attack. (Maybe he did know, you could never really tell with Joe)
Joe put down his copy of what looked to be Frankenstein before leading the way to his poetry.
The fly there was a little violent with fireworks being set off instead of flight rockets and the sounds of a puppet-man somehow digesting sweet berries. All around normal for Joe.
They landed next to a hill with a trapdoor at the base.
Did he have a secret poetry room?
Joe went down the ladder going deep under ground. Mumbo had no choice but to follow him.
The climb was long, long enough for Mumbo to start debating whether he should just start climbing back up. But he didn't.
Instead he continued down the later, letting out a happy sigh once his feet touched the stone brick floor.
Once he turned, that's when he saw it.
Walls with so many papers, each scribbled with words. Barrels full to the brim with book and quills. With a singular desk in the middle of the room, on it were stacks of papers, several quills and ink pots.
Surprise was the only word that could begin to articulate what Mumbo was feeling look at this room.
The filming itself was simple.
Joe read a few poems, showing the off to the camera after.
Then they left.
"Come back anytime!" Joe shouted as he flew away.
As the cold air whipped his face, he couldn't help but smile.
Doc's place was a little different.
Once he got there, he saw lots of redstone with deepslate diamond ore for the circuits. When Mumbo mentioned it, Doc started muttering about an 'Ore Snatcher', whatever that was about.
They didn't go into the hole Doc had made for his base, which disappointed a Mumbo a bit. But seeing Doc do speedy redstone was worth it.
Doc was already ready once he got there, a double chest full of redstone components used for basic circuits.
Then he hit record.
Doc became a whirlwind.
Running around every which way, making different restone contraptions.
First, a hopper clock. Next an auto bits shooter. Then a keycard reader. An item sorter, a piston feed tape and a 3x3 piston door.
It had taken him less than 15 minutes to build each one.
Mumbo must have had a stupid expression on his face because Doc made his way over and patted him on the back while chuckling.
He had stopped filming, but he didn't leave quite yet.
The pair proceeded to have an in depth conversation about redstone for hours.
It took a while for Mumbo to find Keralis.
When he finally did, Keralis was on his boat. Standing there.
Mumbo walked closer, and saw a raised platform lined with lights. It looked to be a DJ turntable.
Climbing onto the boat he saw Keralis wasn't just standing there, he was staring.
As Mumbo walked over, his footsteps alerting Keralis of his presence.
"Mumbo!" He says, turning around to give Mumbo a hug.
They embrace for a few seconds before Keralis runs over to the DJ table.
Mumbo gets his camera out. As he does, he notices something else. It look like a bar on Keralis' right. With kegs and cups and little umbrellas.
Keralis started before Mumbo even pressed record.
Once he did, Keralis was DJing for around a minute before he started bartending.
It was honestly rather impressive.
Mumbo was handed a virgin piña colada, to insure a safe flight home.
It was a mini party for a while, drinking and music.
After he finished recoridng, more Hermits showed up.
It turned into an impromptu party on Keralis' boat with half the sever.
Cleo had spent the past weeks making and editing the designs of the scene she was going to make. His job was filming them making the scene. However she had told him to leave so she could concentrate.
“It’s easier when I don’t have an anxious human adjusting the camera every ten seconds,” Cleo said.
Mumbo laughed and left for the time being, promising to come back and adjust the camera every once in a while.
Instead of resting or editing, he went over to Hypno with his other camera. Though older, it still worked well.
Hypno was surprised when Mumbo showed up, as he wasn’t supposed to come and film for a few days. But he went with change of plans quite quickly, leading Mumbo to his basement. It gave Mumbo the creeps as he had flashbacks to every horror movie he’d ever watched.
Instead of a death dungeon, (Like Gem’s season 9 base, still gives him the creeps sometimes), it was a craft studio with loads of different materials for every sort of project.
Cardboard, thread, glass bottles, paint, clay of all different kinds. It was amazing.
Hypno led him to a table full of thread, needles, fabrics and yarn.
He sat down on a chair facing the table, grabbing an embroidery hoop and fabric. He started setting everything up and Mumbo started to set his camera. The pair worked in silence.
Stepping back, Mumbo sighed. The adjusts he’d made to fit this room with odd it’s lighting.
Hypno had been done for a bit.
Once Mumbo hit record, he lingered around the camera. Checking settings and angles. Soon enough, Hypno had asked Mumbo to leave so he could concentrate. Mumbo obliged, deciding to check up on Cleo.
The flight was short, but enough ot give him time to plan. If Hypno didn’t want him back until he was done and Cleo was okay with him coming over for camera adjustments. Thought he really just wanted to see how the armour stand magic worked. It was so interesting to him. Hopefully he’d get a few tips and tricks.
He stayed for a while, adjusting angles and chatting with Cleo before leaving. He went back home and deicded to do some editing. But the second he got home, he practically lept into his bed.
This repeated for a few days.
But the final day he was amazed. You’d think he’d be used to it after weeks and weeks but each hermit was so unique and talented.
Cleo had made an intricate model with each hermit in the shopping district. The more you looked the more detail you'd see. It was amazing. Incredibly detailed with every hermit doing something. Mini Gem and Pearl at the pickle shop, Mini Etho in frogger.
Hypno on the other hand had an intricate design with different kinds of stitching making a beautiful cliffside. Along with it, Hypo had made a mustache patch for one of his suits. He had gotten it sewed on immediately.
Dawned with his new mustache suit and lots more footage, he put everything in his base and flew to Beef's the next day.
He was thrilled, a project almost over. A project so important to him.
He stood on the 4 by 4 glass platform carefully positioning his camera after adjusting the setting. It was going to be a timelapse because “TCG cards take forever to make,” Beef had said. Mumbo believed him, as he never had to make a TCG card.
Once set up, everything went smoothly. Beef was filling in his already carved words in the sandstone below. It became boring after an hour of filming, so he decided to start on his own segment of the video.
He knows the Hermits would kill him if he didn’t add his own segment.
“Love yourself Mumbo,” They’d say. Or at least something along those lines. He does love himself, just not all the time.
It took only 20 minutes to get another camera. Before he started filming, he checked on Beef from the platform. He was doing well, already having added the name “HC 10”.
He set up his older camera, standing up to dust himself off once done turning it on. He made his way over the timelapse, watching closely. Or at least that was the plan. However, he tripped over his too long legs knocking the camera over the edge along with himself.
Great he thought, equipping his elytra.
Turning his fall into a semi-graceful dive was easy enough. Grabbing the camera that wanted nothing more than to hit the ground was not.
Using rockets to catch up, Mumbo flailed his arms out desperately trying to catch the camera.
First, it brushed his finger. Second, he hit it away instead of grabbing it. Third time, He managed to grab it in on hand, gripping tightly. Third time’s the charm.
As the ground kept approaching, Mumbo maneuvering himself to start gliding slowly to the ground. His rockets were in shulker he couldn’t access in the air.
He looked around as he fell, about to tell Beef to stop when he saw the view. Not only there a beautiful sunset but you could see Beef himself working without seeing the card itself.
It gave Mumbo about a million ideas for how to do the shot.
They called it a day after that.
Mumbo went home and started editing the video files to together, luckily for him his old camera had fallen and was able to look through the glass as much of the falling camera’s shots weren’t good.
After that he’d left one camera recording a timelapse, while he flew around getting different angles.
It took two days, but soon Beef’s talent was finished filming. The final product being of Hermitcraft season 10, with a beautiful picture of what was essential a condensed map of the world along with moves called; Hermits Assemble and Chaos.
That left one Hermit.
Himself.
Mumbo hadn't been sure what to do for his part, so he set up his two camera's to face each other as he ran around adjusting them while they were recording. Of course he mashed in a couple other clips of him filming or directing. But the main bit was the chaos of him running around between two camera's as they switched point of views during the video.
It wasn't much but he was happy with it.
Step 3: Editing
It was the longest part of the process. He had spent weeks filming but editing would take even longer.
He had watch all the hours of footage, cutting and stitching different clips together.
It took him two weeks to make a final project he liked.
After that he took a week break after that.
Step 4: Presentation
A projector had been set up in his empty factory. Couches, pillows and aide mattresses had all been brought in. The Hermits had already started filing in.
Some brought snacks, other brought drinks, some just brought themselves.
Once everyone had gotten there, which didn't take very long, he turned off the lights and started his video.
A loading screen played as settled himself next to Grian.
He looked up at the screen as the title played in block letters, while the background was spawn.
'Hermitcraft Talent Show - Season 10'
It started with a segment of Grian's base followed by him making the pot.
Mumbo tore himself away from the video to observe the reactions of the other Hermits.
They were mesmerized. Each one stared at the screen with admiration and pride.
He looked at the Hermits this time, just looked. The light of the screen illuminating their faces.
Mumbo smiled.