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“Welcome sweetfaces! Everyone’s here now!”
Keralis grinned as he ushered the Magical Mountain crew towards his base. The Hermits had decided to meet there, as Keralis easily had one of the best spaces for a large group of people to hang out.
They weren’t even going to swim, just chill around the fire Keralis had made for the occasion, sharing the food they brought and generally having a good time in the colder weather.
Most of the Hermits were clad in autumn-appropriate clothes and made warmer foods; Scar baked cookies, Pearl made soup, Bdubs brought a variety of teas as well as hot chocolate mix, Etho baked a sweet berry pie, and many more Hermits brought different dishes.
After the last seven Hermits spread out their food on the tables, they settled down in various areas, with friends they hadn’t seen in a while or just wanted to spend time with. By silent agreement, the majority of the Hermits were huddled together in groups, settled on a few benches Keralis had scattered around the area.
As the evening went on and stories were exchanged and food was eaten, the Hermits got colder. Bdubs could barely be seen under his mossy cloak, Scar wore a MooPop beanie and had a blanket draped over his legs, and Grian wore a thicker sweater than usual, passing extras around to the few people on whom they’d fit.
Team ZITS were pacing at the edge of the water, compensating for their different base locations by talking a mile a minute and joking about with each other. Like the other Hermits, Zedaph, Impulse, and Tango were dressed appropriately for the colder weather; Tango wore gloves and a neckwarmer, Impulse had worn a sweater over his jacket, and Zedaph donned a hoodie and scarf over his usual cardigan. Skizz chose not to wear anything particularly suited for the cold of the autumn evening, and, despite multiple warnings from Impulse, the more foresighted of the two, opted to wear his usual sleeveless suit, ignoring prior experiences that told him he got colder easier.
As reluctant as he was to admit it, even to himself, Skizz was cold. He knew, logically, that the others wouldn’t mind giving him something warm to wear, but something in him, either pride or embarrassment, told him it was his own stubbornness that led to this situation, so he had to deal with it. Skizz sighed, turning to face his friends, trying to focus on them instead of the bitter cold.
Unfortunately, Skizz was more focused on Tango’s Hungry Hermits explanation than walking, and, a few seconds later, mistook where the edge of the ground was, stepping on nothing, and falling with a yelp.
Into the water.
When they saw that Skizz was more embarrassed than hurt, the others laughed as he clambered out of the water. Skizz was full-blown shivering when he got out, dismissing his prior embarrassment and wordlessly walking over to Impulse and hugging him for both warmth and relief from the shame of his blunder.
Impulse chuckled slightly, rubbing Skizz’s arm.
“You’re drenched dude, we should go near the fire with the others.”
“Yeah, probably.”
The four men rejoined the others, settling in a bench by the fire. Zed gave Skizz his scarf and Impulse gave him his sweater, which didn’t really fit him, so was draped around his shoulders, much like its owner’s arms. Tango didn’t give him anything, but pressed himself against Skizz, offering his hybrid trait-heightened body temperature, the blazeborn’s fire-tipped tail wrapping around Skizz’s back.
Some other Hermits, presumably those who had witnessed Skizz’s humiliation in real time, went over with their own offerings, and soon Skizz was curled up under the addition of Scar’s spare blanket, which thankfully sustained less tyre marks than his usual one, a blanket Joe had crocheted, a spare towel from Keralis, and the presence of his best friends. As Tango continued explaining his new game, Skizz was no longer cold or humiliated.