(This Chapter is dedicated to RTC from our discord server. Happy Birthday! And sorry I posted so late in the day you can read it tomorrow too!)

They were exhausted. All the tents they weren't using were put away, and all of their own personal stuff was cleaned up, and everything was near the edge of the clearing closer to the buses (they were too tired to bring them all the way over, sue them) and They. Were. Tired.

It made no sense that some of them could still walk around, much less that some of them still wanted to go to the lake in this condition, but the yawning hermits ready to retire for the day weren't coherent enough to argue, nor had the energy to try. Plus, insanity was not a new concept among the class. That had already been thoroughly proven.

"Your loss." Doc simply said to the Hermits retiring for the day, slinging a towel over his shoulder. "I'm going to- how do you say- catch some waves?"

"It's a lake, Doc." Mumbo reasoned. "There will be very few waves."

"All the easier to catch them dude." Ren chuckled, picking up his rolled up towel and flipping his sunglasses down. Doc stiffened slightly, but Ren tried to ignore it. He was probably just a little annoyed he didn't have coffee nor any sleep. Some cold water waking him up would get him awake and back to normal!

"Have fun you weirdo's." False waved, before sleepily walking back to her tent.

---

"Y'know, I'm actually too tired to feel guilty anymore." Beef said, starting to pull up the blankets.

"Yeah?" Etho prompted, trying not to yawn too much. Despite being insanely bone-deep exhausted, he still wanted his mind to stay up a little longer to think.

"Yeah." Beef repeated. "I mean, I'll probably feel bad again in the morning, but right now, like, everyone's safe I guess."

"Yeah." Was all Etho could think to say.

Rustling fabric filled the silence as both of them adjusted their sleeping bag and blankets to get as comfortable as they could.

"I think I'm guilty and tired." Etho said once they had pretty much settled down. Beef was already closing his eyes, just waiting for his body to take the hint to fall asleep.

"Oh?"

"Bdubs is hurt." Etho said.

"And Keralis must be so tired." Beef added.

Beef yawned, and Etho was starting to feel the exhaustion weight on him even more.

"Do you think they hate us?" Etho whispered.

"I think they're too tired to hate us." Beef said, starting to mumble more.

That didn't really help Etho's thoughts, but he hummed anyway.

"Will they hate us in the morning?" Etho asked.

"Nah." Beef said, he sounded half asleep. "They're too nice."

"Ok."

Beef fell asleep almost instantly after, while Etho laid for a little longer, hands behind his head as he started the roof of the tent. It was darker than he expected it to be inside, which was nice, but they didn't have blankets on the top to make it perfect. His brain was too swirl-y to form coherent thoughts, but before he fell asleep, he probably wondered how he could make it up to them eventually. Something like that.

---

"Hey Stress," Cleo waved, looking even more exhausted than before. She had changed into pjs and her hair was combed and in a low ponytail, and she looked a lot more comfortable than before.

"Yeah?"

"Goodluck," Cleo yawned. "I mean, I want you to lose, but maybe fall asleep on the bus so we can draw on your face ok? Don't fall asleep at the lake-beach-whatever."

Stress smiled, rolling her eyes a little. "I won't fall asleep at the lake. Nor the bus I'll have ya' know!"

"Goodluck..." Cleo repeated, smiling a little. "...with that..." Her sentences were spaced a little weird, and Stress could tell she was slightly struggling to stay awake.

"Is False asleep?" Stress asked, proud about how even her voice sounded more awake than Cleo. She was doing just fine!

"Probably. She also says you should sleep on the bus."

"Ok." Stress said. "Goodnight Cleo."

"It's day."

"Good day," Stress corrected. There was no use arguing with someone as tired as Cleo. "And good sleep."

Cleo left without another word, just a slightly too slow wave and a short walk back to their tent. Stress hoped she would sleep well, both of them, and she also hoped that looking as cozy as they seemed to be, she could avoid the temptation of sleeping herself when she got even a little more tired. She felt like she was on the precipice of being tired, and one step the wrong way could cause her to fall asleep anywhere. It was a very precarious awake-ness she felt.

"I can do this. I can do this!" Stress said to herself, grabbing a sketchpad and her towel and placing them in her GG embroidered bag, which already had some other stuff. She was pretty much ready for the beach already, she just wanted something to do in case the water got boring.

"What can you do?" A voice snuck up on her.

"Ack!" She jumped, spinning around. "Iskall! You scared me!"

"Sorry, Stress!" They chuckled sheepishly. "Why are you whispering to yourself though?"

"False and Cleo said I couldn't stay awake the whole day, and I gotta prove 'em wrong!" She explained. "Bets are on the line and I refuse to let 'em win."

"Do you want help?" Iskall offered. "Iskall-MAN the Generous can keep you company so you don't fall asleep?"

"Really?" Stress beamed. "Fank you!"

"If we even want to get to the beach we better get going though." Iskall said. "It took a long time to take down the tents of doom."

"Omega long?" Stress teased, starting to follow the trail that Ren and Doc were walking into. Hopefully they knew where they were going.

Iskall nodded, smiling. "Omega long of doom."

---

Xisuma led the group towards the beach while Joe trailed at the end to make sure no one strayed off path. They mostly did it to ease Xisuma's worry, but the slower walk and extra time to enjoy the scenery was a nice bonus too.

They hadn't really gotten to appreciate as much of the flora as they wanted, but now he could take in every little flower and vine he saw and mentally record it all, taking pictures to inspire poems later.

When the open area came into view, he grinned, marveling at the sparkling lake and surrounding trees straight out of a painting. Bob ross would be proud.

He finally got to the beach, and looked around to find a place to sit. Cub and Scar were on a farther end of the beach, with an umbrella for some reason even though they were in the shade, and blankets to sit on. It was a little too far for Joe's liking, but luckily X and TFC were already set up much closer to the trail with towels down partially in the shade, which was the perfect condition for writing.

"May I join you gentlemen?"

"Yes Joe." Xisuma chuckled. "You may sit wherever you please."

"Thank you kind sir." Joe said, dropping into a criss-cross next to Xisuma. Xisuma laughed a little, and TFC just smiled, looking over the beach with them.

Joe grabbed out his pocket book and started to doodle. "If I am to sound slightly cryptid later in class, I need as many details as I can." He explained. "So, if you find something a little off, such as possible sea monsters or translucent flora around these parts, please do tell."

"Sure kiddo. Just don't go swimming too deep to find those sea monsters without something to float on." TFC chuckled.

---

"It's so weird only having half of the group here." Hypno said, looking over the group. Most of them were sitting in the shade at the moment, other than Jevin and Wels who were racing to get into the freezing water first near the other end of the lake. He and Hypno had the whole section of land to themselves, making sandcastle buildings and gossiping a lot easier, respectfully.

"Yeah. Feels like somethings missing." xB thought out loud with him.

"Half the camp is missing is what." Hypno deadpanned.

xB laughed and scooped up more wet sand as the water receded a tiny bit.

"I bet they're exhausted now. Staying the whole night and walking around? Crazy fools." Hypno continued.

"I still can't believe I never woke up. I mean, Ren left the tent in the middle of the night and I didn't even shift in my sleep?"

"There should be a prize for most dead sleepers." Hypno said, starting to dig out a moat around it. "You'd win by a long shot."

"I'll have to ask him how he did it on the bus or something." xB mentioned. "If there's a trick to it I wanna know."

"Why?"

"Reasons." xB shrugged. "Possibly sneaky ones."

xB packed the sand down and stuck it in the middle of the moat for the base. It wasn't anything special, but it was fun. They both looked at each other and nodded.

"We're making a whole sand town." Hypno spoke for both of them. "A castle won't fit here."

"Who cares about a castle? Down with the monarchy!" xB cheered.

"I vote for an autonomous collective!"

"No! We need an anarcho-syndicalist commune." xB argued. "To take it in turns to act as a sort of representative, with bi-weekly meetings-"

"Oh, be quiet." Hypno laughed. "Anarchy is enough!"

"Oh alright." xB crossed his arms. "But this building has a flag."

"Fine."

---

"Phew." Scar audibly sighed, relaxing on the towel a lot more once the umbrella was set up and Jellie was thoroughly hidden sitting in the bag.

"You're a mad man, Scar." Cub started. "But you did it."

"Couldn't have done it without you." Scar chuckled. "Thanks."

"No problem man." Cub smiled. "If I brought a pet illegally on a school field trip, you would've done the same."

Jellie peeked her head out of the bed, purring softly as Scar scratched behind her ear.

"You can go in the water if you want." Scar told Cub. "I don't want to hold you back."

"Nah man." Cub waved off his comment. "I'm not really feeling it anyway. It's too cold this time of the year, and my muscles are still sore from the hikes."

"You didn't stretch?" Scar gasped dramatically.

"When was there time, in all of the chaos?" Cub chuckled. "You saw how many people were scrambling around to get to sleep- although I guess most of them didn't even sleep.- It slipped my mind."

The conversation slowed, and they looked over the lake, breathing in the fresh air.

"This is nice too." Scar decided. "Even without swimming."

"Yeah. It is." Cub agreed, reaching over to pet Jellie in the bag. She purred. "It is."

---

Joe only wanted to test the waters a little, wade in them and get a feel for the sand between his toes so he could experience it,... without having to fully experience it.

Unfortunately, Wels and Jevin were a little more riled up than he was, and didn't fancy his poems as much as they should've.

"The waters, pulling and pushing the sands of time-"

"Joe!" Jevin yelled. "Get in the water!"

Joe frowned, unamused. "I am in the water." He said bluntly.

Jevin rolled his eyes. "No like- like in the water."

"Like this!" Wels came up from the side, tackling Jevin back under and making a huge splash that hit Joe's torso. It was freezing.

"And the icy waters of earth will be pulling us all to death in due time-" Joe started again, struck by both inspiration and the need to annoy them more now.

"Will you just stop with the depressing poems!?" Jevin asked with a frown.

"They wouldn't be depressing if you'd let me finish." Joe started. "And the waves of time-"

Before he could finish, Jevin had grabbed him and pulled him under, making him scream in surprise.

Wels was cackling a few feet away, and Jevin floated away when Joe shoved him off, grinning smugly.

"Fine then! I'll be creative from a distance." Joe said, walking out of the water with his arms crossed.

"Oh come on Joe!" Wels whined. "We won't do it again!"

"Dude!" Jevin called. "Sorry man! You don't have to leave."

Joe was already walking back as Wels and Jevin complained, and looked angry enough to get the attention of Pearl and Gem who were walking towards the water.

"What happened?" Pearl asked.

"Jevin pulled me in the water. It's freezing."

Gem looked over to where they were looking away, and noticed how Wels' shirt was still mostly dry around the shoulders, meaning he still hadn't gone in all the way yet.

"Well I do think a little bit of revenge is in order here!" She declared, revealing her water gun from under her towel.

"Great minds think alike." Pearl said, pulling out another two and handing one to Joe. "This one's G's. He's missing out so I stole it."

Joe looked at them, and then back at the two trouble makers in the water. Particularly Wels, who was more dry than Jevin.

"I think revenge is in order, lady Gem, lady Pearl. Thank you for your assistance. We will fight until the last of us falls."

"You sound like Ren." Gem laughed, skipping forwards to battle. "But woo!"

"They're both theater and English nerds. It's a type of nerd species." Pearl explained. "Let's get 'em!"

---

Stress, Iskall, Doc, and Ren had finally made it to the beach, and it didn't seem like they'd missed too much.

Stress and iskall spotted Cub and Scar on the farther side of the beach, looking a little lonely, and decided to go sit with them for now. They might go in the water in a bit, but for now, all that tent cleaning up and walking on the trail to get here had them at least a little in need of a breather.

"Hello luv's." She said, sitting in front of them a little. Scar was partially hidden by the umbrella, but she didn't have much energy or focus to care.

"Hallo!" Iskall said too, sitting next to her and farther away from Scar and Cub. "How's it going?"

"Oh y'know.... Great!" Scar said. He sounded nervous. Weird.

"Just enjoying the beach." Cub said calmly. "Water's freezing."

"It might wake me up a little then." Stress said, thinking it over. "But I'll give it a bit."

"So how was the nightly adventure?" Cub asked.

"Yes yes!" Scar said. "Tell us in great detail, and really focus on what happened so you don't miss things!" He said extra quickly, and Cub shot him a look like: 'dude, chill.'

Stress hummed, "Well me and Cleo were wonderin' why False took so long just getting water, so we left our tent, and found her with Ren and Grian. Ren apparently went lookin' for Doc, and found all of 'em geezers gone, including Zed, Tango, and Impulse. They had some weird glowy vial I forgot to ask about when we got back- Iskall remind me to do that later,-"

"Copy that." Iskall nodded.

"-and then Cleo remembered they were talkin' 'bout going inta the woods, so we followed."

"Adventure was calling us!" Iskal chimed in.

"And then we found 'em, but they were all worried cause Tango shouted that Bdubs and Kerails were lost, so we all started lookin' for 'em for awhile. I didn't fink mumbo had it in 'im but he did it. Proud of 'im."

"False and Grian climbed a tree and I was the spotter." Iskall added. "I am very glad they did not fall, or I would be an iskallium-pancake!"

"That was very risky of you guys!" Stress chastised. "I was tryna watch everyone and you lot were being the worst out of everyone. And that's saying something, Cleo ran into the woods alone!"

At this point, they had mostly forgotten that Scar and Cub were supposed to be listening to their story, and they were so caught up in it, they didn't notice any awkward coughing from Scar or tiny meows from under the umbrella. They finished the story ending with everyone getting back to camp, and when the talking died down, it was comfortably silent for a while.

"Weird, 'm not even tired." Stress said. Her body language said differently, slightly rocking in place and dazed, but her expression was wide awake, starting forwards.

Iskall gave her a weird look, turning their head slowly. "You sure about that?"

"I mean, I don't feel tired anymore." Stress shrugged. "I don't feel mentally tired, but my body is tired. It's weird."

"That's the all nighter mindset!" Iskall laughed. "I'll keep helping you stay up though, even if you're not moving and you want to just collapse."

"Fank you Iskall." She said sincerely. "I brought some nail polishes if you want yours done? Mine chipped in the woods a bit." She started to pull out her bag to her side, digging towards the bottom where they had fallen to.

"Oh, any greens?" Iskall asked.

"Forest or slime?" She smiled back.

"You know the answer to that." They grinned, putting their hands in front of themself for Stress.

Stress hummed. "Jus' making sure ya don't want ta' switch it up on me."

"Do either of ya want ya nails painted afta? I got blue, black, and pink." She looked behind her to ask. The umbrella had moved a little and Scar was even more hidden. Huh. Probably the breeze had shifted it.

"Oh blue and black please." Cub said with a smile. "Any pattern you what. You're the master."

"Maybe later for me." Scar answered nervously. "I probably have too much sand in my nails right now."

"Ok luv, I can do it on the bus. When I am awake. And will stay awake the whole time." Stress said confidently.

"Ah smudged it-" She frowned. "Why is this so hard?"

"That's the sleep deprivation messing with motor functions." Iskall chuckled. "We'll call it abstract art."

---

Doc was sitting near the edge of the water, with his knees tucked up to his chest, feeling kinda miserable. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep with so many thoughts, and 3 people to the tent would've probably stopped Etho or Beef from getting good sleep anyhow, so the best option was to just come to the beach.

He had expected some peace and quiet, maybe some annoying sand in his shoes later, and some time to think about.... Things.

It never goes how you expect though. Not when you really need it to.

"Hey, Doc, you wanna swim to the buoys with me and that lovely piece of driftwood?" Ren asked with a lopsided grin as he hopped over a rock to get to Doc's side.

Great. Just the person he was trying to.... think about? Not think about? Ugh! Why were emotions so confusing!?

"Why not ask xB?" Doc asked stiffly. "He's a better swimmer."

"I didn't ask xB; I asked you." Ren said, frowning. "And he's making like a sand village with Hypno, dude. I'm not gonna make them stop their building."

Doc really had no reason to deny Ren, and honestly, he needed to stop trying to push him away so much. It wasn't like they could do much talking while swimming, and maybe the swim would be a way to avoid emotions a little. It was hard to think about like-liking someone when your fear of drowning took over your brain!

"Ok." Doc said, trying to smile and lighten up. "You think that thing can hold both of us up?"

"It looks like a fighter!" Ren responded with a smile. The piece in question was bobbing in the water, being pushed into the rocks back and forth slowly by the waves. It was a little small for the both of them, but also the biggest one that was near them without searching for the next 10 minutes.

They climbed down in silence, trying not to slip on the sharp rocks, and abandoned their shoes where they could grab them on the rocks but also where they probably wouldn't touch water and float away.

The swim to the platform near the buoy's was similar. Not much conversation aside from:

"Kick harder!"

"Turn left- no my left-"

"We have the same left!"

"Chill out dude, we're starting to turn. Your legs are longer than mine!"

And also luckily, Doc's thoughts were relatively quiet. He just had to keep swimming to push the log and every-so often they stopped to grab the log better and breathe.

It wasn't long with both of them pushing the log, and once they made it to the platform, Doc took a deep breath, grabbing into the still surface instead of the wobbly log.

"Ok dude. We're stranded here." Ren announced, hopping onto the platform and reaching out his foot to get the log near him again.

"Uh no, we can swim back?"

It took a bit of a struggle but Ren managed to get the driftwood onto the platform.

"Nope." Ren said, trying to slow his breathing to hide how hard that was. "We're talking dude. And without this log as a makeshift life jacket-slash-floaty, we're stranded."

Doc wanted to blame his stiffness from the water he was still floating in, the cold finally getting to him, but he knew he could probably last another hour or two before that was a real issue.

"What is there to talk about?" He asked coldly.

"You've been acting weird for hours." Ren started. "I get you were worried about Bdubs and Keralis, but they're fine now dude. Why are you still so..." Ren gesterted to Doc, struggling to put the words to it. "...stiff?"

"It's-" Doc took a deep breath in and leaned more of his weight onto the platform. "It's not about them."

Ren stayed silent, a clear gesture to let Doc continue. He didn't really want to, but ruining his friendship with Ren because of such a stupid thing was worse, so he breathed in, trying to prepare for the worst. Heartbreak.

"I went into those woods with a goal."

"Adventure?"

"More materialistic than that." Doc shrugged. "Gem told me there were these glowing flowers you could only see at night, and the waterfall was filled with them. I figured I could go over with the nHo, bringing them was both for fun and so they wouldn't confront me or tell Xisuma, and pick a full bouquet for...."

Ren looked at him curiously. Doc swallowed, and sank slightly deeper in the water at a futile attempt to hide.

"....you."

It was quiet as Ren processed it, and Doc couldn't tell if it was a second to breathe, or a suffocating silence.

"Me?" Ren asked.

"Mhm."

"You wanted to get flowers for me?"

"It's stupid, I know-"

"That's really sweet dude." Ren interrupted, smiling so fondly at Doc.

"It didn't work out."

"Let's just say the thought counts and stop thinking about the what-ifs, okay?" Ren offered. "Cause the thought counts more to me than you think, man."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Ren chuckled nervously, and he couldn't wipe the smile off his face. "If it means what I think it means?"

"If you're thinking about what I'm thinking, then yeah, it means what you think it means." Doc said slowly, trying to get the order of words right.

"Let's talk about it more when we get back, ok? It might be easier when you aren't half submerged in freezing water and we aren't both sleep deprived."

"That sounds good." Doc said, smiling. "Now get that driftwood back in the water. If we fall asleep on this platform no one is coming for a rescue mission."

Ren only laughed, standing up to kick the driftwood back into the water. It splashed violently before bobbing back up and starting to drift away, but Doc caught it before it could float out of reach, and waited for Ren to get back in the water.

Ren walked to the back of the platform and when he started to run, Doc realized what he was doing. With a running leap, he cannonballed into the water with a yell, grinning proudly when he rose back up.

"Ren."

"Yeah?"

"Your sunglasses are missing."

"CRAP!"

Ren dived down, closing his eyes(because the water was not really really great to open your eyes in) and trying to feel for his sunglasses. He came up empty handed.

"They belong to the lake now." Doc said solemnly, shaking his head slowly.

"I have another 3 pairs in my bag."

---

"Hey X!"

Wels was waving him over as a few others splashed around, and then also looked over to where he was sitting.

"Me?"

"There aren't many other X's around here!" Pearl called out.

"Yes you! Get over here you derp!" Wels added with a grin.

Xisuma looked a little skeptical, but stood up and walked over anyway. Curiosity had the best of him, and he wasn't doing much to "relax" anyways as he was sitting and doing nothing.

"We're doing a breath holding contest!" Hypno explained. "Wanna join?"

"This seems highly unsafe." Xisuma said slowly, earning a few cocky grins and "that's the point!" looks.

"But they used to call me a turtle back in swimming lessons because of it." He added, contemplating it.

"Yeah X come and have some fun!" Jevin agreed.

X tried to hide his smile a little bit, trying to not look too excited. "Ah ok. I guess the worst case scenario is that I drowned."

"That's spirit X!" Wels clapped him on the back as he dipped a toe in, trying to get used to the water.

"Woo Xisuma!" Gem cheered.

"Oh it's not that bad." Xisuma muttered, walking in further at a normal pace. "Guess I shouldn't have trusted the poet to tell me how cold it was."

That got a few chuckles, but even more confusing and surprised looks as X practically jumped in the water to his neck without effort. Joe might have been dramatic with his word choice, but he wasn't lying when he called it freezing. The water was like arctic ice.

Xisuma was not as sane as he let on.

"Ok then." xB said, just ignoring the class president's weird ways.

"I'll count you guys in." Gem said. "I don't want these flowers to fall out of my hair if I can help it."

Everyone got ready, deep enough where they could touch the bottom if they needed to push themselves up quickly, but also where they could bend easily to stick their heads in the water.

"3,"

Everyone started to breathe in to get the biggest breath they could. Technically it was only about staying underwater the longest, so they could blow out bubbles just fine.

"2,"

A pause, for anticipation, and because some people were still breathing in.

"1!"

And everyone ducked underwater, Gem laughing as the water splashed her a lot. She stepped back a little back so he could watch everyone more easily to see who was the first to pop up.

---

"I think I'll check on the kiddos back at the camp." TFC said, slowly standing up and dusting off his pants. Some sand and dirt fell away, and Joe held his book up to block any from getting his face.

"Oh, sorry!"

"It's ok, the power of literature protected me." Joe nodded, lowering it slowly.

"What are you writing there anyhow?"

"A written passage of our adventure here, before our departure." Joe said wistfully. "To commemorate the deeds and don'ts of my friends, and piece together my perspective of this exploration of emotions and forestry."

TFC laughed a little. "You ever thought 'bout becoming a writer, son?"

"Many a time."

TFC nodded soundly with a hum. "You tell Xisuma where I'm at. I don't need him worrying over another thing."

"Will do, sir."

TFC chuckled and shook his head. It was hopeless to try to stop them from calling him something formal, it seemed. Maybe one day they would be brave enough to call him a nickname.

Without a need for more words, he turned away, finding the trail that led back to camp. What a quaint little forest. How they got lost in it, he wasn't quite sure, when most curves were pretty apparent and the trails we clearly marked. Highschoolers will be highschoolers.

---

"Are you sure he isn't dead?" Pearl asked, staring at a limp floating Xisuma with his face down in the water. It was called the "dead man's float" for a reason.

"He won already. We should poke him to tell him." Gem said.

"What if he freaks out and swallows water though?" xB mentioned, a little worried.

"Can he hear us?" Wels asked.

"His ears are under the water, so probably no." Hypno said.

"Ok who cares, someone poke him to make sure he hasn't drowned." Jevin said. "It's so much harder to hide a body in a lake than you'd think."

Wels moved to poke him in the side- arguably the worst place to do it- but Xisuma shot up before anyone could touch him.

That was like- two minutes!" Gem exclaimed when Xisuma popped up. "Maybe I was counting fast, but you beat everyone a lot!"

"Aw darn only 2? My record was 2 and a half. I need to practice more." Xisuma said.

"I think you get to keep the turtle master title, X." xB chuckled. "Glad you aren't dead."

---

Mumbo couldn't sleep.

Don't get it wrong, he was exhausted. A whole night staying awake and walking around, the adrenaline crash he felt when they finally got back and could rest, the fear for himself and his friends, and then the relief when everyone was safe, all added up to a tired and messy looking teen.

One who should definitely be sleeping peacefully in his tent, at least until they had to get up and leave. They still had plenty of time, he assumed. Well, enough for a sound nap to get some energy back before the crazy loud bus ride, at least, where it would be nearly impossible to close his eyes for more than a few moments without screaming or pranking bound to wake him up.

But he couldn't sleep.

Sighing almost silently and threading his hands through his matted hair as best he could, he quietly walked over to the dead campfire.

Mumbo tried to avoid twigs and patches of dead grass he knew was loud, and maybe that was being overly careful, but he didn't want to wake anyone up. Luckily, the campfire was far enough from the last of the tents that were up, so he could sigh a little more loudly when he made it over.

"What's wrong with me?" He muttered to himself.

He put his head in his hands and tried to close his eyes, hoping it would make him feel sleepy enough to try sleeping again, but his eyes didn't really want to close and it wasn't very comfortable and it was still too bright and-

"Hey kiddo, didn't expect to see ya up and about right now."

Mumbo shot up, looking around until his eyes landed on the source, and relaxed. TFC, a responsible adult. Maybe he could help?

"Me neither, to be totally honest." Mumbo chuckled hollowly. "I tried to sleep. But well, you can see how that turned out."

TFC hummed and walked closer, taking the moment to take note of Mumbo's state. His hair was filthy, greasy and muddy with bits of twigs and dried moss caught up in it, and the rest of him wasn't much better. A tee shirt and once-comfy sweatpants that were both muddy, the knees of the sweatpants the most with massive stains and a few small tears, and a light jacket with muddy on parts on the sleeves. All of that, combined with eyebags and an unusual slouch and stillness for the usually well kept and fidgety student, equaled a simple conclusion. Mumbo was a mess.

"Something on your mind?" Tin asked with a small nod.

"Well, yes. And no."

TFC sat down on the log next to him with a grunt, and looked at Mumbo to encourage him to continue.

"Well you know how Bdubs and Keralis went off into the woods?"

"I'd be a little crazy to forget that so quickly." TFC answered jokingly. "I'm not that old yet, kiddo."

"Right. Yes." Mumbo agreed. "Well you see we tried to find them, before telling Xisuma about it. It was a stupid decision, but we were all tired. Which isn't a reason to excuse it! I know. But no one had the brain cells to think otherwise in the panic."

TFC took in the information slowly and carefully, also giving Mumbo a second to breathe. Clearly his mind was racing faster than his limbs could, and it was keeping him awake.

"Were you scared?"

"Yes." Mumbo admitted. "Very much so."

"Is that what's keeping you up? The fear?"

"I'm not-" Mumbo started, and then stopped. "I'm not sure. I shouldn't be scared anymore. Everyone's safe."

"Well what do you think's scaring you right now?"

"I'm not-.... I'm not sure." Mumbo started. "My mind's messing with me."

"Brains like to do that, I've learned." TFC said.

"I did something pants, and it didn't even help anyone."

"Oh?"

"We were doing this like- human chain thing off the trail." Mumbo started. "Wait- you won't tell anyone I told you this right? I don't want my friends to get in trouble."

"My lips are sealed." TFC did the zipper motion with his hand. "If you think I want to file all of that paperwork and get you guys in trouble, you are sorely mistaken. I'm hoping we can keep this whole thing a little, well, under wraps."

"Oh perfect, yes, well uhm-" Mumbo swallowed. "You see, we made this human chain, and I was at the end of it because of my noodle arms."

TFC had to stifle a giggle before apologizing quietly, "Sorry."

"No no it's fine. I know." Mumbo laughed. "Out of me, Beef, Ren, Doc, and Etho, I don't really come out on top in the strength competition. So I broke off from the group, off the trail, and tried to find clues for Bdubs and Keralis, but I only found a piece of litter and wasted everyone's time."

"Well to me, that sounds like a very brave thing to do."

"....yeah?"

"You were scared, but faced it to try to find your friends."

"Oh." He said slowly, like he was realizing it too. "Thank you."

"It's ok to still be scared. That's normal." TFC said, "But it seems like even when you're scared, you can face those fears. And that's a good quality, Mumbo Jumbo."

Mumbo looked up at him and smiled. The second "thank you" was present in it, even without saying it. It was quiet for a moment, just the chirping of birds in the background and rustling of the wind in the trees. TFC was about to ask if Mumbo could go to sleep now, but Mumbo broke the silence first.

"I think my brain just wants to think. But I don't. I want to sleep." Mumbo sighed, putting his head in his hand.

"Hmm, well, I may not have a solution, but I can think of one thing to at least make it a little better. For both of us."

Mumbo looked confused, lifting his body up a little, and TFC only smiled.

"Now you see, you have to keep turning them to get that golden brown color- that's the good stuff." He instructed kindly while Mumbo watched intently.

"Another trick is to get the marshmallow near these patches of really hot embers near the base. They'll hopefully not catch on fire because the flame isn't over it, and it gets it done a little quicker so it doesn't have time to slide off." TFC continued. "Of course it's alright if it catches fire too. Just blow it off and eat it after a second. Don't eat too many burnt ones though alright? They're less healthy."

"These have any health at all?" Mumbo asked, inspecting the marshmallow he was trying to stab on the sticks

"All things have a bit to them, I like to think." TFC said. "Maybe not when you eat too much, but sugar can be good for you if you need it."

Mumbo hummed. That was good. He was thinking, but maybe not so much thinking about things stressing him out. Now that TFC got a better sense of how he was feeling, he noticed not only the clothes had changed.

Of course, he was dirty and tired a little on edge, but there was a stark difference in the confidence he showed too.

Mumbo was a well meaning student. Mostly A's, proper and polite to adults, but shy. And right now, he was talking to TFC like a normal person, a person who didn't see TFC as an authority figure in need of respecting at all times. A nice change of pace that TFC hoped stuck after the kid got some rest.

"Do you want to sleep, still?" He asked. Mumbo seemed to be spacing out a little, and he didn't want to keep him up if he was tired and would actually be able to get to sleep now.

"I think I'll stay awake for a while longer." Mumbo chided thoughtfully. Disagreeing with an adult. That was a good place to be too.

"Did you ever get to things as crazy as this at our ages?" He asked next, looking up at TFC hopefully.

"Oh," TFC started with a chuckle. "I'll tell you about this one time, me and this old friend I had gotten up to a similar situation the group of you kiddos did. Although, we had bear spray that came in handy, and got to take home some abandoned mineshaft picks for our collection."

Mumbo looked incredibly in awe, so TFC continued.

"It was on a day like any other...."

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(6214 words!)

well uh.... yeah so this took a long time! Sorry 'bout that! welp, it's almost done and luckily past me actually remembers to leave some helpful notes to work off of without having to reread the entire thing so i can't promise it'll be soon (AP tests are stabbing me 37 times in the the chest right about now!) but hey I'll try my best to finish this one before staring the 7 or so new nooks I have planned ;)

Thanks for reading! Comments and votes hugely motivative me to keep writing so leaving a few would be very nice of you! have a good day or night! (but don't pull all nighters like these idiots!)