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Welt breathed a sigh of relief as the car finally came to a stop. He looked out the window, into the expansive woods outside.
This morning, Einstein had proposed a very interesting "workplace bonding activity."
"Let's go camping. There's a nice camping area not too far from here, with a lovely hiking spot leading up to a beautiful view." Tesla had raised an eyebrow to this, and so did Welt. It wasn't every day that Ein of all people would suggest going outside. Into the wild woods.
Eventually, Welt decided to break the mold. "Uh, it sounds nice, I guess." Tesla rolled her eyes.
"You can do better than that," she sighed. "But… the idea isn't too bad. Better than working all day."
"We're on break for a week, remember?" Ein said with a smile. She glanced over at Welt. "That's day one complete. You're welcome."
He scratched his head. Ah, he had completely forgotten about their short break. Maybe this time, Tesla wouldn't complain about his tastes in recreation.
"Wait… day one?" Welt realized. "We're going tonight?"
Ein didn't seem too impressed. "Hm? Well, of course we're going tonight. Our schedule is free today anyways, and it shouldn't take too long to pack." With a wave of her hand, she turned to go to her room. "I'll go pack now. I'd say it would be wise for you two to do so too."
And now they're here. As Welt stepped out of the car, he took in the fresh, cool air of the forest. It was a refreshing change from the polluted air of London, which did wonders for his mood.
"Ah…" breathed Ein, stepping out of the car after him. "How wonderful." She rubbed her forehead. "Though… Tesla's driving is as nauseating as ever."
"A-are you okay?" Tesla gasped, seemingly out of nowhere, startling Welt. Apparently, this exact same scene would play out every single time the three of them went on a little "field trip."
"It's nothing by now," Ein sighed, reassuring her. "Don't worry about it."
Welt tapped his foot, taking in the scenery around him. They had arrived in a clearing in the woods, a simple campsite enclosed in a simple, low wooden fence. He opened the trunk of the car, unloading the tent and the other things they had packed for the night, carrying them to the site.
"Ah…" Welt remarked. "I don't know how to set this up."
"I can do that," Ein said. "Tesla, can you and Welt go set up our campfire? Once we've set everything up, let's go watch the sunset at the cliff."
Tesla’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Oh, that sounds romantic!” She turned to Welt. “Oi, you go find some twigs. Make sure they’re all dried out, no moisture, okay?”
“Okay, okay!” Welt replied, before turning to walk into the woods.
Welt does not like the dark very much. His vision would play tricks on him, distorting shadows into strange figures which triggered his imagination. It always made him feel more anxious and paranoid, especially when he was alone. As if someone was watching him. As if someone was out to get him.
All he had to do was get some wood, right? Easy enough, and these woods didn’t seem too dangerous. He crouched down to the forest floor, gathering dry branches and twigs together. His head hung low, his gaze fixed towards the ground. The less of those creepy, twisted trees, and odd shadowy figures he saw, the better. The sound of the rustling leaves beneath his feet soothed him in a way, yet he couldn’t shake off his anxiousness.
Soon enough, he had gathered a sizable amount of wood for the fire. Hopefully, they were good enough for Tesla, though he had made sure all of them were dried up, no moisture to get in the way. He stood upright, and let out a deep sigh. Finally, he could get out of this place, back to the campsite where he felt relatively safer. He took a step toward the camp.
A piercing scream rang throughout the woods. What was even more mortifying, though, was the familiarity of it.
With a gasp, Welt ran towards the scream, clutching the wood tightly. He recognized that scream - it was Tesla! What happened to her? Was she okay? Was he already too late?
He finally saw a blur of red in the woods - a young lady sitting on the ground, stiff. As he got closer, he saw her face frozen in fear, her body lightly shaking.
“A-a-ah-” stuttered the terrified Tesla, her gaze fixed onto the ground in front of her. As Welt came closer, he saw a little beetle within her line of sight.
“W-welt! Welt!” She pointed at the beetle. “G-get that damn thing away from me RIGHT NOW!”
He crouched down in front of it. “...Aw, it’s kinda cute.”
“It’s kinda WHAT?!”
“Y-yeah, I think it’s pretty cute.” He lightly tapped it. “It’s very small, and a pretty shade of brown. Cute.”
“You’re insane.”
“It’s probably harmless, right?” He placed the wood down on the ground beside Tesla, and scooped the beetle up in his palms. “Okay, it’s away from you now.”
Tesla narrowed her eyes. “Hmph.” She got up, taking the wood in her arms. “You were taking so long, so I went looking for you, to make sure no one snatched you up or anything. Then, that thing flew right at my face!”
“Oh, was I really taking a while?” He chuckled nervously. “Sorry for making you worry…”
“Hmph, whatever.” She eyed the beetle sitting comfortably in Welt’s hands. “...You’re not taking that with you, right?”
“I’m starting to get kind of attached to it, honestly. It’s very well-behaved.”
“You’re ridiculous.” Her face lit up as she then had an incredible idea. “Though… heheh, maybe we’ll let it come along back to camp. Just don’t tell Mophead.”
Welt raised an eyebrow. Okay, Tesla was definitely planning something. If he remembered correctly… Ein seems kind of anxious around bugs. Yes… Tesla was definitely planning something. A part of him wanted to protest, and save his good friend from this potentially terrifying prank. Then, he remembered when Ein snuck hot sauce into his hot chocolate.
“...I’ll hide it in my tent,” he said with a nod.
“Wonderful.”
“Oh, you two are finally back,” Ein noted as she watched Tesla and Welt emerge from the forest. She looked down at her watch. “The sun will set soon. Once Tesla finishes setting up the fire, let’s head up the hiking path towards the viewing point.”
Welt crouched down beside Tesla, who had set up a simple fire pit a few meters from the tents. The twintails was carefully arranging the sticks he had gathered in a cone surrounding some dried-up grass underneath. As she set everything up, she explained every step of the process to him.
“We’ll light it when we get back,” Tesla said, kneeling back. “It would be very irresponsible of us to leave a fire going unattended.”
“Definitely…” Welt muttered. They stood up, joining Ein in the direction of the hiking path.
“The air is so crisp and fresh up here,” Welt remarked as they hiked, hoping to break the awkward silence.
“Mhm. You aren’t used to environments like this, aren’t you?” Ein replied.
“Not necessarily… it’s quite nice here, though. I like how quiet it is too.”
Ein chuckled. “Ah, yes. Quiet. That’s something quite rare in Lab 42, with people like Dr. Tesla around.”
“OI! I’M RIGHT HERE YOU KNOW!” Tesla yelled. Ein rolled her eyes.
“Oh dear, it seems that the quiet is gone.”
“What a shame,” sighed Welt.
“HEY!” She huffed. Now, all of a sudden, Welt was on Mophead’s side.
Tesla crossed her arms, taking on a proud stride. “If it weren’t for you two being so annoying, I could be a little quieter. My yelling is all for a good cause, you know.”
“Good cause?” Ein shrugged. “I don’t see what you’re accomplishing by yelling all the time.”
“I’m defending my dignity!”
“Sure…” Welt muttered.
“Oi, says the one who doesn’t have any dignity to defend,” Tesla grumbled, giving him a flick on the cheek.
“Hey! What was that for?!”
Ein sighed. “Oh dear, we’re arguing again.” She then stopped in her tracks. “Ah, we’re here.”
They had reached a clearing in the forest, in front of a cliff lined with a stone railing. The three ran over to the railing, looking out at the view before them. The sky was painted a vibrant hue of orange, with tints of yellow and scarlet. The sun began to set into the valley before them, casting its light into the river below, creating a beautiful and colorful reflection.
“Incredible…” marvelled Welt.
“Yes, it really is,” Ein said, resting her arm onto the stone. She wore a small smile on her face.
“Let’s stay here for a while…” Tesla muttered.
Welt couldn’t take his eyes off the view. Even if he had been able to bring a camera along with him, it wouldn’t be able to fully capture the majesty of the sight before him. So, he looked onwards, hoping that if he looked long enough, he could engrave this image into his mind forever. Maybe if he stayed here long enough, perhaps he could memorize the crisp, fresh air, the sound of crickets chirping behind him, and the warmth of Ein’s hand on his. Maybe he could memorize Tesla’s bright smile as she stared into the distance, or the subtle glint in Ein’s eyes disguising her wonder and excitement.
And he could preserve this moment, for the rest of his life. A beautiful painting too magical and familiar to be depicted on paper, a symphony of color and emotions too magnificent to be played by even the most celebrated orchestras.
“We should get going now,” Ein said as the sun began to dip below the horizon, night approaching in its wake. “Hopefully we can get back to camp before it gets too dark.”
“Ah…” sighed Welt, disappointed that the fantastical sunset couldn’t last forever.
“Don’t worry,” she assured him. “We can come back as many times as we want in the future.”
Tesla chuckled. “We’re young, we have all the time in the world! So don’t be all gloomy when happy moments like these end. There’s a lot more ahead, okay?”
“ If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you’ll also miss the stars ,” Ein said. “It’s a quote from a book Madame Planck is quite fond of. I believe it suits this moment.”
“T-thanks,” Welt sighed, smiling. The three began their descent back to camp, chatting idly all the way. It was as if some barrier between them was lifted, as the silence which had accompanied their ascent had disappeared by now. Though, none of them really minded.
Tesla stuck her marshmallow into the campfire, meticulously turning the stick every so often to achieve an even golden coloring on every side. Welt, meanwhile, was having more difficulties, his marshmallow’s browning being quite uneven, even blackened in a few areas. And Ein simply popped marshmallows into her mouth, straight from the bag.
“Welt, you’re gonna burn yours,” Tesla complained.
“I-I’m not!” he stuttered. “Just because it’s not perfect doesn’t mean it won’t be good, right?!”
“You two put too much effort into enjoying marshmallows.” She took a bite from a graham cracker.
“HEY!” protested Tesla. “THOSE ARE FOR MY S’MORES!”
“There’s enough for everyone.”
Tesla huffed. “If I were a weaker woman, I would keep your s’more all to myself.” Welt muttered something under his breath which Tesla couldn’t quite catch, which prompted another flick on the forehead from her.
“Ouch!”
“Hmph.” She pulled her marshmallow from the fire, sandwiching it between two graham crackers and some chocolate, pulling it off the stick. Welt did the same, and the two of them bit down on their tasty snack nearly in sync.
The fire cast eerie shadows onto the ground, and Welt’s gaze followed them into the dark woods. His anxiousness and fears began to return, as he inched closer to Ein nervously.
“Welt?” Ein questioned as she noticed his anxiety. “Uh… something wrong?”
“...Well…”
Tesla frowned. “Oh, I know. He’s scared of the dark, isn’t he?”
He blinked. “...Maybe.”
Ein chuckled and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Hm. It happens to the best of us. Looks like we’ve discovered one of Welt’s many, many weaknesses.”
“H-hey!”
Tesla suppressed the urge to laugh. It would be quite cruel to laugh at him for his genuine fear, after all. Too cruel even for herself or Mophead. Instead, she gave him a pat on the back. “Eh, whatever’s lurking in the darkness can’t be any scarier than me or Mophead, right?”
“How comforting…”
“Her point is, there’s no need to be afraid,” Ein explained. “Well, that’s probably her point.”
Welt crossed his arms as he stared into the endless darkness of the woods. He was afraid he would be pulled within, taken away from the happiness which he was afraid of losing every day. His imagination played tricks on him, creating terrifying possibilities out of the unknown.
“Yeah, you have a point,” he said, looking back at the two of them. As he looked over at Tesla, he then remembered a certain plan they had made a few hours before. He excused himself, going over to his tent.
“Huh?” he gasped, prompting Tesla to freeze.
“Welt?” Ein asked, looking over towards the tent. “What’s wrong?”
“I-I left… something here, but it’s gone!”
Tesla resisted the urge to screech. He better not be talking about that damn bug. If he is, I’m actually gonna-
Ein yelped, leaping away from the bags of snacks beside her. Tesla looked over, and saw the beetle from earlier, crawling on top of the chocolate bars they had packed.
“...Oh, there it is,” Welt said, crouching down beside it.
“Welt…” breathed Ein, frozen in fear. “What do you mean, there it is. ”
“...This was Tesla’s idea.”
“WELT!” growled Tesla.
“Welt… please take that beetle away from me.”
“Okay, okay,” Welt said, taking it into his palms yet again. “There you are, Waffles.”
“YOU NAMED IT?!” exclaimed Tesla.
“Of course. It deserves a name, doesn’t it?” The doctors couldn’t even tell if he was being serious at this point.
Ein inched away from him. “You’re gonna take it back with you, aren’t you?”
He shrugged. “Err… I don’t know how to take care of a beetle anyways, so Waffles can stay here.”
Tesla breathed a sigh of relief. “God, Welt, you’re a pain in the ass.”
Ein chuckled as she watched Welt try to feed some graham cracker crumbs to Waffles. “I’d argue he’s the best out of the three of us. Unfortunate, really.”
The three laughed and chatted into the night, until fatigue washed over them and they called it quits for the night. Welt lumbered back to his tent, where he tucked himself comfortably into his sleeping bag. He sort of envied Ein and Tesla, who got to share a tent while he had to be all alone with only a lantern and a beetle to keep him company. But he didn’t have the courage to ask, anyways, and it wasn’t so bad.
He closed his eyes. It was quite warm in this sleeping bag. The cool air felt nice, despite his difficulty in frigid weather. Today really was a wonderful day. Hopefully, there will be more days like this in the future.