Eating soup by the campfire, as well as smores after, in cozy warm clothes on the warm night, was really peaceful.

That was, until the inevitable happened, and someone recommended more scary stories. It was bound to happen, considering how much fun the first had been, and since no one had complained about restless sleep or nightmares, most hermits agreed it was a good idea.

Tango gulped. He was really hoping to avoid this. Cleo pointed him a quick expectant look, and he, along with Zed, pretended to encourage the crowd with "yeah!"'s and stuff to blend in. She looked back to the front of the group, and for a split moment, he thought he was safe.

Famous last thoughts huh?

"Team ZIT were planning a story on the walk!" She announced loudly. "Said it could scare even me."

The crowd gasped, and everyone stopped cheering, slowly looking for the 3 in the crowd.

He was screwed.

Actually, they were all screwed, but Tango the most, because Impulse said he had to actually tell the story because he made the excuse. Curse his mouth for making much a stupid excuse, because now he had to tell a scary story that they hyped way more than they should've. It didn't help that almost everyone was staring at them now.

From what Impulse had told them, he didn't doubt the embarrassment to cover it up would be worth it, but if the adventure was anything less than amazing, Impulse was sure to pay for it later.

"Uh- I don't know guys.." Zed started, buying them time. "Doesn't anyone have one they want to go first? Our might be better, for like, a story in the middle?"

"Aww don't put yourselves down like that! You can go ahead first, really." Cleo encouraged, smirking ever so slightly.

It was like stare down across the campfire, but with Cleo smiling at them through the fire -when had she moved seats to be across from them?- they backed down immediately, giving in.

"Uh- yeah, ok! We can go first." Impulse said, slightly nudging Tango's arm. "Whenever you're ready buddy." He mumbled.

Tango took a deep breath, scanning the seas of expectant faces. There was some murmuring as they waited for the trio to start.

"Ok, this is a story about a dungeon, deep underground beneath um- a market place!" Tango started. Slipping already a little from what they planned, Tango realized a lot of this would probably end up as improv. Great!

"A market place?" Cleo raised an eyebrow.

"Shush, I'm getting to the story!" He defended. He still had to act like this was completely planned afterall. As far as he hoped she knew, this was all they had been talking about on the walk to camp.

Cleo rolled her eyes, but let them continue anyway.

"So underneath this marketplace, there was an unknown dungeon, with huge beasts lurking around it, waiting for their next kill. The people in the town didn't even know about it, until an entrance to it popped up one day at the edge of the island- because also that was what the marketplace was on."

"Wait then why couldn't anyone just swim to see the dungeon then." Grian asked.

Tango paused and furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't think of that.

"There were monsters in the water!" Impulse blurted out, helping him out.

Zed butted in too, "Yeah, and they had pointy weapons they could throw at people! So no one could swim safely. And who would want to swim that deep anyways without scuba gear?"

"Yes!" Tango said. "Now on with the story." He clasped his hand together. "So the residents went up to the gate, which had an entrance like the mouth of a monster. A pathway made of blood colored bricks popped up too, leading to the entrance."

The fire crackled and someone dropped a marshmallow into the fire on accident with a quick curse.

"It led downwards a grand staircase, torches on the walls, and as they made it to the bottom room, a huge monster from the ceiling growled at them. It was trapped in a cage, so they were safe, but at least one guy fell over, and a short one with a red bandana shrieked."

"Hey is that character supposed to be me?!" Bdubs asked with an offended gasp.

"What?" Zed asked Bdubs innocently.

"The guy who shrieked with the red bandana?!" Bdubs clarified.

"Of course not!" Tango said smoothly. "I said he was short, and you're average height, right?"

Bdubs huffed. "Yeah. I am."

"Then there's no problem!" Zed smiled. "Continue Tango,"

"Right, so they all went in, and then a booming voice said "IF YOU WANT TO FIND THE TREASURE, YOU MUST MAKE IT THROUGH THE MAZE AND FIND THE ARTIFACTS." and all of the villagers were like-"

"Wait, now this is a treasure hunt?" Grian asked. Cleo looked absolutely delighted at all the interruptions and just smiled sweetly at them, eyes boring into their skin.

"Yes! Guys just let me tell the story!" Tango yelled out, getting everyone to keep quiet after they said:

"Ok ok."

"Fine."

"I was!"

It made sense that they were still a little hyper, with this being the first story and all and the sun still in the sky (not to mention the sugary soda and marshmallows upping the energy) but could they just keep quiet for a few minutes without evaluating every detail?!

Turns out, they could.

A few minutes later, the story was finished. A thrilling tale of how they escaped the beasts eventually known as ravagers, collected artifacts with buttons and levers and challenges, and barely survived the mazes. Wels had said they could probably program it into a game someday, and Doc and Etho had offered to help with programming if they needed, for a share of the future cut of course.

Tango, Zed, and Impulse were happy that everyone liked it, and that their cover was still safe after all, but at the moment, they were all sort of expectant of Cleo's rating.

"Not bad." Cleo said, seeing their faces. "I wouldn't call it scary, but it was entertaining to say the least."

"Well hey for only writing it in one walk-" Impulse realized his mistake and froze, clapping his mouth shut.

"Well only officially in one walk. Like, the final story." Zed saved quickly, while Tango quickly elbowed Impulse for good measure.

"That was a great story, does anyone have another?" Joe spoke up, and not even a few seconds of silence before-

"I have a story!" Grian jumped up. Another marshmallow hissed and burned as it fell into the fire when he moved, and he frowned at it before Iskall wordlessly handed him another one.

"Oh don't tell me it's the one about-" Mumbo started to groan already.

"It's about a superhero named Poultry Man!"

"Oh here we go again." He let out an exasperated sigh, letting his shoulders slouch.

"Chicken Man? What, does he float down slowly and befriend bees and crows?" Iskall laughed.

"Poultry man. A chicken man just sounds dumb." Grian argued. "Now, it all starts with a few pranks, but leads to a whole war with betrayal, vengange, double crossing, and mazes, and his sidekick named Moustache Man helps him save the day at the end. "

"Sidekick!?" Mumbo yelled out in annoyance, faking a look of betrayal as Grian grinned and nodded.

--

"Oh that was a load of stupidity." Doc huffed in a low voice. "The villain couldn't have been tricked that easily with an invisible cloak-"

"-potion."

"-whatever. It's unrealistic is what it is, and the hero shouldn't've been able to maneuver the maze so easily! You would think such a mastermind as the Doctor was, he would've had disappearing walls or something in it!"

"Well he didn't. And Poultry Man was incredible so it wouldn't have mattered anyways." Grian defended, crossing his arms. "And if you think it's so "unrealistic" then how about you think of a better one." Grian argued, doing air quotes for emphasis.

"As a matter of fact, I think I will." Doc said, "No one else wanted to go first though, right?" He asked, scanning the group of Hermits. He might have wanted to prove a point to Grian, but he could still be polite if someone else was in line first.

Stress raised her hand and "I think I'll save mine for after the feud you two got going on." Stress chuckled lightly. "What's your story called Doc?"

"It's called, The Goatman."

--

"Oh I'm not sure I can top that one." Stress chuckled nervously when hermits started to nudge her to go.

"Aww don't be like that." Doc cheered her on. "I'm sure it's great!"

"Stress, we're all just here to have fun, it doesn't have to be better or worse than anyone else." Xismuma assured her.

"Aww alright then. This is the story about Frankenstein's monster."

"Ooh I love this one!" Iskall cheered.

"You've heard it before?" Ren asked.

"Me too, Stress loves to retell it at sleepovers." Cleo added, and False nodded next to her.

"Aww you guys don't invite me to sleepovers!" Ren pouted, making puppy eyes at the people in question.

"Sorry Ren, no guys allowed." False shrugged. She didn't believe in that rule at all really, and neither did anyone else, it just happened to be a no boys thing, but that didn't stop her from teasing Ren.

"Hey Ren, you can have sleepovers with me." Doc mentioned, inching a little closer.

"Yeah my dude!" Ren grinned and slung an arm around Doc's shoulders as a yes, and Doc froze. He made eye contact with Gem across the fire and quickly looked away when she gave him a knowing look. It wasn't smug, just kind and comforting, letting him know that she believed in him and thought he could do it.

That was a thousand times worse.

"Hey then me and Beef can destroy you two at video games." Etho smiled, interrupting the split second of fear creeping up Doc's chest. "We'll replace Bdubs with Ren!"

"hEY!"

"It's alright Bubbles, you can have sleepovers with me and Shashwammy instead!"

"Thank you Ker for being nicer than the rest of them." Bdubs said, arms crossed. Etho next to him nudged his arm and mumbled out, just enough so Bdubs could hear him. "You two could cuddle."

Bdubs eyes went wide and he glared at Etho, but no one really noticed as they all started to talk about various sleepovers and hangouts. Someone mentioned a huge all hermit sleepover, while others said that would be chaos in just one house, and another said this camping trip was basically already that, and who's house would they do it at anyway, and-

"Ahem!" Iskall cleared their throat loudly. Everyone slowed to a stop as they stood up, and waved over to Stress sitting there quietly.

"I believe a Ms. Stressmonster had a story to tell?" They pointed out.

Everyone shut up immediately, looking a little guilty for talking over her so long.

"It's alright luvs, it's not a long story or anythin'."

"Well go ahead and start now and we'll all quiet down for it." Xisuma said politely, quickly shooting a glance at everyone, and smiled when his eyes landed on Iskall for pointing it out.

She smiled and nodded, her face slowly turning into a calm dark smile.

"It was a dark and stormy night..."

--

"Stress wins."

"Wins what? Scariness? Total storytelling? Plot?!" Bdubs threw his hands in the air and exclaimed.

"Everything." Scar deadpanned.

"It wasn't a competition to start, but yeah." Xisuma said bluntly.

"Anyone want to hold my hand to the tents?" xB raised his hand slightly, chuckling at his own half-joke.

"Yeah mine too?" Ren nodded.

How about a group huddle to walk over there?" Gem suggested. And many people agreed with yeses and nods.

"Guys stop acting like babies, it wasn't that bad." Grian folded his arm over his red sweater, rolling his eyes at the forming cluster of hermits on one side of the fire.

"Dude, you screamed like 3 times." Iskall chuckled, giving Grian a confused look.

"Yeah, not that bad." Grian shrugged. He went into the crowd anyway, dragging Mumbo's sleeve with him, who hadn't said a word since the story ended. He still had a bit of the blue stain on his shoulders and with his mildly terrified eyes as Grian spoke up.

"You look like you could use a nap Mumby." He said, and no one noticed the nickname that accidently slipped out.

"I fancy I might need a break from this break." Mumbo chuckled quietly. He rubbed the back of his neck. "You don't think tin would mind picking us up a day earlier?"

"Aww Mumbo don't be like that!" Cleo said, clapping him on the back a little too hard, making him stumble forward a step. "It's just a little dirt and rocks, nothing you can't wash out."

"Wait is there dirt in my hai-"

"Plus the beach day is tomorrow!" Ren interrupted. "Can't miss out on that can we dude?" He asked, resting an elbow on Mumbo's shoulder while he was hunched over a bit.

"Yeah that'll be your break day mumby- mUMBO!" Grian corrected quickly and completely subtly.

"Yeah, I guess one more day couldn't kill me." Mumbo sighed, standing up straighter. Ren's arm fell off. "And maybe I could come back later to bike, some of the trails seemed smooth enough actually."

"That's the spirit!" Cleo said. "And not the kind that will haunt you in your sleep."

"What?" Mumbo squeaked, whipping his head towards the zombie, who was only giving a cheerful smile back.

It wasn't too late yet, just a slightly darkened sky, and so hermits continued to roast marshmallows as they shifted around on logs to sit with different people and get their blood moving again.

The group that was scared by Stress's story were still huddled pretty close, but the fire and laughter was starting to ease their nerves enough to relax as much as you can in the woods at night. Stress had gotten many compliments on her storytelling and requests to be invited to the next sleepover with a new scary story. She had agreed of course, but no dates were set yet.

Zed looked to the sky and squinted at the time on his phone subtly. Everyone was talking enough to not notice at least. He pocketed it quickly and hid the slightly excited smile he had.

"Well, a whole day of walking and scary stories and I'm exhausted!" Zed exclaimed dramatically, putting his hand to his forehead.

"Uh, really?" False asked. "I mean we had a really long break, and the walk back was so quick."

"Not all of us are absolutely ripped like you False." Zed said, frowning.

Impulse gave him a weird look and squinted, until he realized what Zed was doing. He perked up a bit in realization and forced a huge yawn, elbowing Tango, who was giving both of them a weird look.

"I mean, the walk there was pretty long too." Impulse added slyly, rolling back his shoulders so he could slouch them and look more tired. "And the scary stories uh- made my heart beat faster? Basically like running."

Impulse saw the gears turning in Tango's head next, and then it clicked for him too. He stretched his arms upwards and also yawned.

"Yeah uh-, I'm tired too!" He yawned again, and a third one for good measure. Overdoing it much?

"Well I guess today was a long day." Xisuma said as he overheard everything. "We're going to the lake tomorrow, so we could probably use the extra rest to save our energy." He considered.

Doc drooped his eyes and yawned too, shrugging his shoulders till they drooped tiredly, and Impulse wondered if he actually was tired. He wasn't in on the plan, right?

"Hey Bdubs, don't you need your beauty rest?" Etho edged on, something weird traced in his dialect.

"What? No, I feel fine." Bdubs said, a little annoyed that Etho called it "beauty rest" as the grumble creeped into his voice.

"But you look so tired." Beef added, and Etho elbowed Bdubs a little.

"I feel awake and fine." Bdubs said more forcefully, and the two dropped it.

"Well I'm tired." Etho shrugged. Beef yawned and nodded too.

"Me too. What do you say, X? Should we call it an early night?" Doc asked smoothly, faking another yawn.

"Well if you're all so tired..." Xisuma started. "I guess extra rest could be good for us all. Alright then, we'll head to sleep early."

Some of the other hermits were confused, but they were tired enough themselves not to argue. Since pretty much everyone was already ready for bed besides maybe a change of clothes or getting their sleeping bags ready, they all wandered towards the tents area.

Yes, most of them in a half-formed huddle.

"Hey where's Scar?" Someone in the crowd asked.

Cub perked up immediately, recognizing the voice as Pearl's. "Oh uh! I saw him heading to the tents a little early- to uh- fluff his pillows." Cub answered quickly. He forced himself to ignore the horrible excuse he spat out and continued on, hoping the others would ignore it too.

"Huh, ok." Pearl said, a little skeptical. She tried to analyze Cub further, but he rushed into the crowd going to the tents to avoid that, and just hoped she didn't notice more.

"Doc being tired?" Mumbo mumbled curiously to Grian and Iskall walking with him. "That's odd."

"Dude, Bdubs not being tired is the weird part." Iskall said.

"Wonder what's up with them." Grian mumbled tiredly. "Let's go to sleep while we still can. If Bdubs and Doc start to bicker there is no way any of us are going to be able to fall asleep later."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

Mumbo and Iskall said at the same time.  

------

(2934 words ^^^) 

School is tough, so is other stuff, so updates might be a bit slower! Once I'm done with my AP bio test (early May) and a bunch of other smaller projects, updates will pick up pace! it's a tough goal, especially by my standards of how long of a chapter will be vs how long it ends up being, but I want to try to finish this by the end of summer! Plus if you guys like it enough, I have 2 more works planned for this series. 

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Have a great day or night, bye!!!!