(Sort of a recap chapter I guess. Honestly the timeline is all over the place, but hopefully it should be more straightforward from now on.)

The day was beautiful. Clear sky's and low crowds, perfect weather, everything. And it would've been the best day for a picnic, like the one that Niki had been planning for a while with Puffy. She had only realised this morning it was the day she had planned, and when the text came in, and the meeting, and now the plan to take down a few sort of insane/possessed/she still didn't really know what was going on/scary people- yeah that might've ruined the plans, for today or the next day. Since apparently this was planned to be a multiple day trip. Niki looked through the crowds to at least find Puffy and say bye, and maybe plan to meet up before they all left to get a bite to eat.

But before any of that was possible, she saw Puffy, and the Hermits helping her, walking in the other direction towards the hospital. The hospital was pretty far from the prison so it made sense why she left right after Sam said everyone could leave, but Niki still felt a little disappointed she couldn't at least give her a goodbye hug. She shrugged it off though, realising she would get to give an even bigger hug when she got back to the earth gate anyway.

Niki quickly saw the rather large group walking towards her with kind smiles. It was a bit messy and crowded as everyone was looking for their Hermit Helpers without knowing names and faces, but luckily the chaos had cooled in a matter of seconds.

They did quick introductions of names again in case they had forgotten, and Niki learned she had Etho, Xisuma, Stress, and Cleo to help her with both of her shops.

"So who out of you guys wants to run the cafe, and which the flower shop?" Niki asked.

"I'd like the flower shop!" Xisuma said with his smile beaming through his helmet. Little bee's buzzed around him in delight at the idea of flowers for them. They'd probably help the flowers as well, so they were more than welcome!

"Could I do the cafe?" Cleo asked. Niki nodded.

"I'm ok with eiffer one." Stress said, pronouncing 'either' with more 'f' than it's probably supposed to have.

That meant it was up to Etho to choose. He wore a vest that screamed: in-the-warm-coffee-shop-with-hot-chocolate, but oddly he chose the other.

"The flower shop sounds great!" He said with a smile in his eyes, since his mouth was covered by a dark blue mask.

"All works out then!" She clasped her hands. "Great!"

Before the group could start walking around the building, two people rushed over, one clearly being dragged by the other.

Tubbo was practically jumping as he dragged an annoyed Tommy over by the sleeve, not taking his eyes off a certain Hermit in particular. Niki noticed quickly and chuckled a little.

"Hello, Tubbo, Tommy. What are you guys doing here?" Niki asked.

"This idiot wanted to see the bees," Tommy said flatly, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.

Tubbo punched him in the arm before letting go of his sleeve and walking up closer to the bee guy.

"Ow!" Tommy shouted, uncrossing his arms to rub the one Tubbo punched. Tubbo ignored him.

"Uhm?-" Xisuma started.

"How did you getbeesandhowmanydoyouhaveandwhat'retheylikeandcanIhaveone!?" Tubbo asked very quickly. It was almost hard to make out a word he was saying, but Xisuma seemed to actually understand it all.

He chuckled a little, "That's a lot of questions. What's your name again?"

"Tubbo!"

"Well nice to meet you Tubbo!" X smiled, holding out his hand to shake. Tubbo shook it with an eager smile, paying more attention to the bees starting to fly around him than X himself.

"As for how I know these fellas, I work at a honey shop back home and these are the regular visitors that like to follow me wherever I go."

"Oh, like how crows follow Philza?" Tommy asked, suddenly interested. "He once gave them some bread crumbs once and they just followed him the whole day. Now we call him Crow Father."

"Oh that's interesting! I'm not sure crows and bees would get along too well though." X chuckled.

X turned back to Tubbo who was moving fast trying to get his eye on multiple at once. It looked like he was getting dizzy, or would fall over from tripping on his own feet soon. X sighed, grabbed Tubbo's hand, and carefully and turned it upwards so his palm was cupped in front of him.

"Now be very still."

Tubbo nodded, shaking.

"Take a deep breath." X said.

Tubbo took a huge breath and held it.

"And let it out, slowly."

Tubbo did so, and had calmed down quite a bit. Niki was surprised it had actually worked, and Tubbo was able to stand still and steady. The other Hermits just watched, in no hurry to get going as this little kid to them got to hold a bee.

Xisuma poked one of the bee's on his shoulder gently, which crawled onto his finger as he carefully moved it closer to Tubbo. He put it in Tubbo's cupped hand and the bee seemed content to just sit there. Tubbo's eyes had stars in them. Tommy gave a small smile, seeing him so happy.

"Her name is Bubbles," X said. Tubbo whispered the name back, completely awestruck. The little bee perked up at her name and swirled around Tubbo, before landing back in his hand.

Before anyone could speak, two tall people came along. It was Techno and Philza, who had just stopped by for a little while on their way to somewhere further. Niki noticed they were stiff, and Techno kept glancing around the crowds as if looking for someone.

"Are you three good with supplies and gear? Me and Techno have extra weapons and armor if you need any at our place in the ice biome." Philza asked when he was in earshot.

"Thanks Crow father!" Tommy in an overly british accent.

"Can I take the bee there?" Tubbo asked Xisuma next to him.

"I'm afraid Bubbles won't be able to survive over there, but I can watch over him while you're gone, and then you can meet me at the flower shop and say hi to her again before you have to leave. She'll bee waiting here once you're back from your adventure." X said, chuckling at his own joke a little.

Tubbo looked disappointed but agreed anyway. All he had at the moment was the thin sword Fundy gave him, and that probably wouldn't be enough in terms of armor, weapons, and whatever other supplies he needed.

Philza looked at Niki waiting for an answer.

"Oh me?" Niki asked, a little surprised he was asking her too. "Thank you so much! I first have to go over to my shops though." Niki pointed to the Hermits who smiled and gave small waves.

"Just meet us at the portal when you're done, we have to do some things in the prison right now anyway." Philza said.

Philza and Techno walked away, in the opposite direction to the one the group was planning to head in.

"How far away are the shops? If they take long to get to, we should probably start heading there now, so you three have time to get supplies for your trip." Cleo said.

"It's not too far, and the shops are pretty close to one another, but you're right. We should probably get going. Ohh and there's a pretty forest next to it I can show you when we get there. Even just the entrance is beautiful-"

Before Niki could finish, she was interrupted by another person.

"Hey Tubbo, could I pull you to the side for a second?" Fundy had jumped into the group and grabbed Tubbos arm. Pulling him to the side before anyone could react.

"Uhm what was that about?" Etho asked.

"Probably Tubbo just being a science nerd again." Tommy said, rolling his eyes. "Him and the furry both."

Niki chuckled. "I guess we'll have to wait until he gives the bee- Bubbles was it? -back, before we can leave."

"Yeah, I'm sure he'll bee back soon though," Etho said, stealing Xismua's joke. "That kid seems to adore you X."

"Yeah a little too much." Tommy mumbled.

Wilbur had walked over now too, waving to the group as he got closer.

"Oh hi Wilbur!" Niki smiled.

"Hey Niki, you have an entourage I see?" Wilbur said, smiling at the hermits.

Stress played along with the idea and made a camera shape with her hands, pretending to be taking pictures of Niki and making a clicking sound with her tongue. Cleo laughed a bit and whispered to Stress loud enough for the others to hear:

"Get as many of those as you can, and we can put the good ones in the Hermitan Herald!"

X played along too, and got a reporter's hat from seemingly nowhere, putting it on and grabbing a mini microphone off his belt to hold it up to Niki. "Anything you want to tell the press?"

Niki laughed and blushed at everyone's antics. Everyone laughed and gave up the act to get back to the conversation.

Before they could continue, Tubbo came back, the bee still sitting comfortably in his hand. Wilbur gave him an odd look but didn't say anything. One bee in Tubbo's hand was way less surprising than the 10 or 20 flying around Xisuma. Hard to count when they were all flying or moving around.

"What did the furry say to you Tubbo?" Tommy asked with a raised eyebrow. Tubbo glanced around the group and looked slightly nervous.

"He needs help with something. It might take a while though so I have to give you Bubbles back." Tubbo held out his hand to X.

"Thank you for taking good care of her. You can stop by the flower shop before and she'll be there to say bye before your adventure." Xisuma smiled.

Tubbo nodded and ran back to Fundy before Tommy could ask anymore questions. Tommy looked a little disappointed.

"How are you Wilbur?" Niki started again, "Do you have supplies ready for the trip?"

"Eh, I'll get it eventually. First I want to see if I can find a new guitar. I might need to ask Philza and Techno to help me look though."

"Oh we're going to see them in a little bit!" Tommy brightened up. "We're going to get all of the OP loot!"

"Sounds fun, didn't know Techno was one to share his gear though. I might stop by to say hi."

"Hope to see you there then." Niki said, "We should probably get going now though. The shops aren't going to run themselves!" She said, pointing to the Hermits.

"Hey if you see Tubbo on the way over, could you tell him I was looking for him? I want to plan some supplies shit with him." Tommy asked. No he wasn't clingy or anything, Tubbo was the clingy one!

"Of course Tommy." Niki gave a comforting smile. He looked away quickly in embarrassment, but Niki could tell he was grateful.

"Bye!"

"See ya!"

Tommy and Wilbur stayed behind as Niki made her way around the building in the general direction of her shops, with the Hermits following her.

Very quickly, they noticed another group hanging around the building and talking.

"Oh hey guys! Sorry if I was interrupting something, I'm just heading over to my shops right now." Niki said as she got closer and they all seemed to stop talking.

"Oh no it's fine, we were just about to split anyway!" Tubbo said. His eyes went right back to Xisuma, who gave a small wave to the kid.

"Tommy was actually looking for you Tubbo, around the corner. He and Wilbur are probably still talking, so you can probably catch them before they leave."

"Oh thanks for telling me!" Tubbo smiled.

Niki noticed Fundy, Badboyhalo, Skeppy, and Sapnap were also in the group, along with some Hermits she forgot the names of.

"Oh Bad and Skeppy! Aren't you going to the Earth portal? The cafe and flower shop are near there if you want to go together?" She asked.

"Oh I'm actually heading with these guys to do something quickly." Bad said a little shyly.

"I can come," Skeppy said.

Niki nodded and their groups combined, leaving the others to whatever they were doing before.

"Bye Geppy! And Hermit friends!" Bad waved.

"Bye!" One of the Hermits waved.

"We'll send Skeppy the pictures and he can give them to you, they're hilarious!" The other one said.

"Bye Badboy!" Skeppy waved with a touch of sadness lining the aftertone of his voice. Niki seemed to be the only one to notice he was disappointed Bad couldn't come too, as no one said anything or reacted as well. It must've been pretty easy to lie with a screen over your face that didn't project a fake smile and a real one differently, but his tone of voice gave it away for her. She wondered what the others were planning.

They started to walk away from the building, and the light overtook the scene. The air seemed fresher and overall the mood was lighter away from the dark and looming prison. It was nice.

"Do you guys want to see the pictures of Grian and Skeppy falling over?" Iskall asked to break the silence.

"Ooh yes!" Stress said, speeding up to catch up to him as he slowed down. Skeppy smiled in embarrassment as they all crowded around the phone to get a looked, while Grian stood proudly at the attention.

"What were you guys trying to do?" Etho asked with a laugh as Iskall swiped to the one with Skeppy face first on the ground and Grian flying in the air.

"I was trying to balance on his head!" Grian said proudly.

"Well the box-" Skeppy added. "Show them the one where it worked!"

Iskall did so and the two were politely applauded for it, mixed in with some held back giggles.

"How many tries did it get you?" Cleo asked with a smirk.

"Too many." Skeppy sighed.

The group continued to chat as they slowly headed to the shops area. And sure, Skeppy and Niki knew the mission was probably going to be dangerous, and handing off their work to others was practically sealing the deal with no turn backs, but it was a nice day, with good company, and they both relaxed a little. Couldn't be all doom and gloom right?

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Yeah, not the best for the time it took but i need to get the story moving more and i just need to get this part over with. Thanks for reading and have a good day or night! 

(I won't be uploading until after June 18th so I can do finals, thanks for the patients and sorry!)