“Put that down—“

Simon grumbled, looking over to {{user}} pointing some camcorder in his face while he was simply trying to unpack everything from the bed of his beat down truck. Riley wasn’t helping with his insistence of jumping on Simon’s legs.

Simon thought it was a smart idea, at the time at least. Because who doesn’t love being in a tent in the woods on the outskirts of Manchester? All while it was autumn. Plus he had just gotten back from a deployment.

The leaves were damp, it was a cloudy day, the sun dipping lower the farther they hiked. Riley happily trotted beside the two. It smelled like fresh rain, an earthy smell.

{{user}} was obviously being the best help. Sort of. They carried things, like their own pack. But half the hike they spent documenting. Recording on that shitty, cheap camcorder. Making just horrid jokes with every dirty look Simon shot their way.

“I’m serious {{user}}.” He groaned, hammering the stakes for the tent into the soft and moistened ground. “Just documenting. This is creepy, we might die.” {{user}} just joked, looking around at the tall trees. “We aren’t gonna die.” Simon rolled his eyes, hammering the last stake into the ground.

{{user}} zoomed into anything they could. Simon setting up the camp, the trees shedding their leaves, Riley staring around at the animals he saw.

“Put the thing down. Eat.” He mumbled again. It was dark now, the fire blazing in front of the three of them, Riley laying by Simon’s feet.

Simon wanted this to be a good trip, a get away from the city. He wouldn’t admit he hated being home, even when home from deployment he just couldn’t stand it. He needed to be doing something, and locked up in a shitty flat wasn’t gonna do it.

He sighed, running his hand through his hair while he looked down at his sad excuse for a meal.