Resting on the old moss covered benches was relaxing. It creaked under his weight, but the knowledge that the bench hadn't given up yet, so it won't break now, was comforting, and something to distract the leader's mind.

Xisuma was having fun, he really was! But with hermits separating on the trail, so many people to keep track of by himself, and a trail map that seemed to be the slightest bit more outdated than he thought, the stress was starting to get to him.

"Hey X, you alright?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm alright." He looked up to see who was talking to him. "How are you Mumbo?"

"I'm good X- but if you need a second I can-"

"It's quite alright, what were you going to ask? I assume you're here to-..." Xisuma trailed off.

"We were wondering when we're continuing the trail? It's been 15-ish minutes and you said the second half was longer, and we just don't want to get back when it's dark."

"Oh- I must've lost track of time." Xisuma mentally slapped himself. "Thanks for reminding me, we should continue now."

Xisuma shook his head and stood up. It seemed like everyone was there as he scanned faces and heads, but he should probably still do a head count-

"We already counted everyone." Mumbo said. "Uh- you looked tired, so Grian stole a sheet of paper from your clipboard while you were closing your eyes, and uh- everyones here, safe, and alive."

Xisuma wanted to be a tad bit annoyed, since they had stolen his things and subtly hinted that he wasn't capable enough to handle all of this himself-

But one look at the sort of awkward Mumbo holding out the stolen sheet, just trying to help with some of the load, Xisuma smiled and nodded.

"Thank you. Let's get on with this hike shall we?"

Keralis grabbed Bdubs arms and dragged him along with the moving mass.

"You're sticking with me this time. There were so many opportunities for good pictures and you missed them on the way up! Can't let that happen again." Keralis said firmly.

"I'm trying to get a good photo of every hermit actually; Wanna see a cool one of Etho." Bdubs asked.

Keralis gasped and his eyes went even wider than they were normally. "You actually got one of Etho!?"

"He didn't notice until it was too late." Bdubs smirked, and pulled out his camera to show it.

(never finished it with color , but maybe I will eventually!)

"That's amazing Bubbles! You have to get one that good of me someday." Keralis said sincerely and looked into Bdubs eyes. Bdubs paused, with his breath stuck in his throat as he looked at his grinning friend.

There was an unspoken sentence that Bdubs really hoped Keralis wasn't able to hear: "With you in the photo, it'll be even better."

Bdubs nodded aggressively, successfully snapping himself out of it, "Of course Ker! I plan to get every hermit before this trip is over."

Keralis grinned and looped his arm around Bdubs's arm as the group started to stretch out into small groups to fit on the trail.

After a few minutes of the calm wilderness, the groups were more spread out. Ren, Doc, Iskall, and Etho were behind them, but by quite a bit because Iskall had seen something far off and now they were arguing whether it was a shadow or a cool animal.

Gem and Pearl were ahead of them, and were chatting about different types of flora and fauna. Pearl was doing more of the listening, but she didn't seem to mind as Gem went into detail about everything she could.

Keralis looked up and perked up with a grin.

"Bubbles," He whispered, pointing to the girls ahead of them. "Perfect picture opportunity~"

Bdubs gasped quietly and fiddled out his camera as quickly as he could without dropping it. He tried to turn it on, and cursed the thing for not speeding up under his breath. Normally, he would be more dramatic about the pace it took to turn on and load, but he didn't want to draw any attention to what he was doing. If someone pointed it out to the two, they would lose the moment, and the picture wouldn't look as genuine.

They got ever so slightly closer, and Keralis moved behind Bdubs so he wouldn't accidentally photobomb it.

Bdubs raised the camera and zoomed in just enough to snap some good photos without ruining the quality. He got at least 10 fast clicked ones, and just hoped one turned out clear.

"Uh- what are you guys doing?" A voice snapped Bdubs out of it, and he lowered the camera before he even looked at the photos.

Pearl was looking at him with an eye raised and Gem had stopped pointing at a flower to look up as well.

"Bubbles was getting a picture of perfection," Keralis complimented as he waved his hand in front of the two.

"Uh yeah! I just want to get a photo of every hermit on this trip, and sometimes they look better when people don't know they're being photographed." Bdubs explained sheepishly.

"Ooh can we see them?" Gem said.

"I think it's only fair." Pearl added.

Bdubs nodded and switched the camera setting to get the photos. The three crowed over his shoulder to see and he held it out so they could all get a better look.

"Woah Bdubs, you're so talented!"

"I just have good looking models, the camera does all of the work." Bdubs brushed off. He was a little flushed in embarrassment, not used to getting real compliments he couldn't exaggerate or be dramatic about.

"Don't be so modest, Bubbles!" Keralis slung his arm over Bdubs shoulder and gave him a quick hug, careful not to knock the camera out of his hands. The photographer went redder and chuckled nervously as he pinned his eyes back to the camera.

"Want to smile for this one?" He asked, and Gem and Pearl nodded. Keralis watched him in awe as he moved different angles and stood perfectly at each one still to take the photos.

He showed them the new photos and they looked happy with them. Keralis noticed they were falling behind on the trail. The group behind them were in clear hearing distance now, so the 4 decided to get back to the trail. Now Gem was teaching them all about the nature around them, and despite stopping at every plant she wanted to show off, they started to slowly catch up to the group ahead.

Most of the plants were the same, so finding an interesting one a few feet away meant they were speed walking to the cool stuff, stopping to look at this, then repeating that the whole time. Overall it was faster, and Bdubs got way more cool pictures of plants this way.

"Ughhhhh! How long is this going to take?!" Jevin whined, near the front of the group.

"My legs are going to turn to even more jelly than yours if we keep this up much longer." Grian moped, dragging his feet up the hill.

They were on the steepest part of the walk and the rest would be pretty smooth sailing, but through this part, everyone felt like complaining. Xisuma shook his head, only a tad bit annoyed that they were so verbal about their complaints. He had already reassured them that this was the worst of it, and most of the rest of the trail was down hill, and didn't feel like telling them again.

"You guys should toughen up a little-" False said. "Put the effort in your legs and it's not that bad."

"Oh like how you were so fine after carrying those supplies to camp." Grian shot back.

"Ok I agree with Grian that this is hard, but those supplies were heavy too Grian. You couldn't just use your legs for that." Jevin said. "At least she had the arm strength to go all the way without stopping."

"Thank you, Jevin. You are the only one who gets to keep complaining without getting smacked in the head from this point forward."

"Hey!"

"Yes!"

Grian and Jevin said at the same time.

"Can't you guys just enjoy the nature?" Mumbo asked.

"Mumbo's right," Joe started. "This area is so beautiful I could write a poem about it, maybe I will when I have some paper to write one down."

"Wait- you don't think our teachers will make us write poems or essays on this when we get back do you?" Grian whined, his shoulders slacking as he dragged his feet.

"OW!" Grian yelled as False drew back her hand.

"No wonder you suck at math with such a thick skull." False said, shaking her hand a little from the impact.

"Hey!"

"I told you I'd smack you in the head if you kept whining." She shrugged.

The group laughed around them, mostly at Grian's pain and False's comeback, and kept going. Yes, Joe did write a poem, without paper, as they were walking, and kept repeating it so he wouldn't forget. After about ten minutes of the same poem, someone searched through their stuff to find a pen so he could write it on his arm.

"Doc my legs are getting tiredddddd....." Ren complained.

"What do you want me to do about it?" The German voice asked sarcastically.

"You could carry him-"

"Shush Etho."

"What, are you not strong enough?" Iskall added, knowing exactly what they were doing.

Doc glared at Iskall and Etho, and turned his attention back to Ren. He was making puppy eyes at him overdramatically, which was a clear sign that he was ok with it only if Doc was. Doc looked at the road ahead, and saw it was straighter than it had been in awhile. He doubted it would stay smooth for much longer.

With a sigh Doc avoided the gazes of Iskall and Etho, "Fine."

"Piggyback or bridal style?" Etho snickered.

"Etho! They have to wait till after the wedding for bridal style!" Iskall put their hand to their chest in fake offence, doing their best to hold back a cackle.

"You don't actually have to Doc-" Ren started.

"I can do bridal. Plus I can show off my mad muscles this way." Doc said, putting on a more confident face.

"Alright man! Thanks!"

Ren jumped up, and Doc sweeped his arm under Ren's legs, with his other hand behind Ren's back.

"Dude, you're like a feather! Not as light as Grian or Bdubs, although Bdubs was struggling that one time so he doesn't really count, but still!"

"Glad to hear it! I can just kick back and enjoy the view with my personal human carriage!"

Iskall and Etho were practically sobbing as they laughed, and Etho muttered something about needing Bdubs to be here and take a picture.

"Etho-" Iskall said between breaths, "You commission Bdubs for the photographer,-...heh..... and I'll get Stress to bake a cake....Haha!..... from whatever sweets we brought-"

Iskall wiped a tear from his eye. "We can do the wedding here in the woods!"

Ren looked at Doc and rolled his eyes with a nod to the two in front of him. "Can you believe those two?" He whispered, chuckling a little.

His breath was on Doc's neck, and he had one arm slung over his shoulder for support. Doc's face was slightly tinted from the sun and the sun alone, only because he hadn't put on sunscreen for the walk and the sun through the trees and-

"Idiots think alike." Doc muttered, "They're just jealous they don't have the strength to pick up anyone." He smiled at Ren, and emphasized his point by shifting Ren's body for a better hold, like he didn't weigh more than a book or two.

"Woah!" Ren exclaimed as he bounced around.

"Sorry, you were starting to slip."

Iskall remembered they had a phone and slipped it out carefully. They whipped around and took a ton, hoping at least one wouldn't be blurry.

"Send those to me." Etho whispered.

It had been a while of walking, and even though the hermits were originally planning to stop somewhere to eat part way through, there were no good places to sit, especially as a group, so they just kept going.

The scenery was gorgeous and after water breaks and talking and more walking uphill, the group was getting closer together and conversations started to slow as they saved their lungs for breathing instead of talking.

Doc had set Ren back down a while ago and now their group was right behind Bdubs and Keralis.

There were more branches in the way, and fallen logs to walk over now, like this trail was less traveled than the rest of it.

Keralis did a small bow and held the branch out of the way for Bdubs.

Bdubs chuckled and walked through, and paused, with a great idea. He held his fingers to his lips and took hold of the branch Keralis was holding, ducking behind a convenient tree. It was almost like they were in the woods or something! Keralis gave him an odd look and Bdubs motioned for him to hide as well. Keralis shrugged and followed suit.

He could hear their voices from quite a distance, and when Doc and Ren were practically next to them, Bdubs let go of the branch.

THWACK

"wHAT THE-

"acHH-"

"HAHA!"

"BDUBS?!"

"That's our cue to run!" Bdubs exclaimed, grabbing Keralis's hand and bolting.

Both hermits were laughing as they ran, hopping over logs and around bushes. They stumbled a little when the rest of the group was right in front of them and they had to stop abruptly, but Bdubs caught Keralis from falling forwards.

"Doc is going to kill you Bubbles." Keralis said in between breaths.

"It'll have been worth it for the look on his face. Plus hey! You were in on it too!"

"What are you two laughing about?" Pearl eyed them up and down.

"Tree- hit them- Doc's face!" Bdubs cackled and Pearl rolled her eyes with a smile, getting the picture enough.

"Just don't involve me in your little rivalry. I'd rather not poke a bear twice my size with a stick."

"Fair enough," Keralis said.

Xisuma grumbled, and pinned his eyes back to the map in his hands, "It says it should be right here! Did we take a wrong turn, have we not gone as far as I thought?"

He looked around quickly, and saw nothing but trees and the continuing trail dipping downwards.

"HA! There it is!" Grian exclaimed and rushed forwards.

"Finally!" Jevin picked up his pace too and followed Grian.

"We're here!" Mumbo sighed in relief, picking up his pace.

Xisuma looked confused, and before he could process what they saw, he stepped out of the way of the hermits running forwards.

"Woah there Shishwammy, you'll get trampled if you just stand there!" Keralis grabbed his arms and pulled him forwards, pushing a bush out of the way.

He dragged X forwards, letting him see what everyone was looking at as he avoided running into a tree.

"Wow..."

------

Do you guys read "wow" as:

 "w-ow!-w"  

or   

"w-oh-w"?

Thank you for reading, and sorry it's been a hot-sec since I've posted. i hope you're all doing good, and drinking hot chocolate and going sledding if you're on break and its cold outside like me! if not, just get some good sleep and love yourself because you deserve a break. Have a great day or night!