Private/Closed Bootleg Bros. Ultimate - The Muspell Campaign

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Bennett


Looking at the violet noodles he made...it appeared unappetizing. For some reason, it bubbled an unsettling way despite a lack of water, had a sort of purple miasma about it, the bones inside of it not helping the appetizing look. It had the resting smell of burnt rubber, dish looked inedible, if one could call it a dish.

Bennett was none the wiser however, looking over to to the Taiyaki that was made by Akira. It was rare for him to have food prepared by others, so storing his dish for later in a small bowl in his backpack, he jumped at the opportunity to treat himself.

"Oh! Thank you!"

Quickly taking his portion up, he took a bite, savoring the flavor. Having eaten nothing but eggs and the occasional fruit he found on the side of the road, he was taking in the flavor. His eyes were closed in bliss as he held his cheek with his open hand.

"Man, this is great! Are you a professional cook??"

 

[Mokko]

Nikki Prez
What the hell had become of her noodles!? Those were limited-edition! Super hard to get! She’d literally had to be on the set of one of the movies to acquire those! …Okay, well, chances were they were probably just regular instant noodles fancily repackaged, but still! Nikki stared in momentary horror at how Bennett had prepared them. How had he acquired such… texture? Consistency? BONES!??

But, she was nothing if not open minded- she would try any food at least one time, and this was no exception. Slowly, she took a pair of wooden chopsticks from her bag, breaking them apart and diving into the bowl. She pulled out a long bite of noodles from the peculiar ‘broth,’ placing them in her mouth and slurping- refusing to break eye contact with Bennett the entire time, her gaze wide and unblinking, because frankly, he needed to be held responsible for creating such a thing.

She chewed the noodles, and…

“How did… you get them so… crunchy, while they’re also… disintegrating into the… s-sludge…” she attempted to describe the dish, but there were too many flavors and textures going on, quite literally none of them good. It was the worst of both worlds- it tasted terrible, and it was also super unhealthy. She swallowed, shivering harder than the cold had ever made her shiver during her time here- before immediately eating an entire one of Akira’s taiyaki in one bite. After swallowing that, she seemed to stabilize.

“Wow, thanks for cooking, guys! Let’s round this meal out with some meat, shall we?” she said, deciding it was best to move on from her feelings toward the noodles. She relocated as many of the fish as she could to the fire, about ten before she ran out of room- spearing through their scaly bodies with sticks, before planting those sticks into the ground so they could hover over the heat. With Gazpacho now accompanying her, she kept having to manually divert his beak as he hovered over her shoulder to 'inspect' the fish.

 

[Gamingfan]

Shovel Knight

The group had taken another break, taking the chance for the rest and a meal. Things soon got lively again, yet the blue burrower seemed to have gone quiet, staring at the fire somberly. Only when Akira raised his bowl of Tayaki did Shovel Knight raise his head.
"Taiyaki? I've never heard of it before." Shovel Knight said, picking up one them and admiring it's fishy design. Though now he really could go for some actual fish...
Fortunately, Nikki and Anakin returned from their trip to the stream, carrying a big supply of wriggling fishes.
"Incredible. I couldn't dream of fishing up that much!" the knight said in astonishment. Without wasting time, the knight speared his own fish on the Propeller Dagger (because what's the point of magic artifacts if you can't abuse them a little). As he held it over the fire, the knight tried Akira's taiyaki, the baked good vanishing within the darkness inside his helmet.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Semperviren Forest​

- Day 2, Noon -​

Fjorm smiled at Shay's comment, laughing quietly. The clothes were the most jarring thing for him? Despite it all, Fjorm hadn't really taken a hard look at the clothes of her companions. They all did seem quite different, at least when they had first rescued her. She was glad that at least Akira and Nikki had chosen to wear the Nifl armor. Bennett, Anakin, and Shovel Knight appeared to be able to handle the cold themselves, and Shay's heavy jacket seemed to be the most suited for this cold climate of all the heroes.
"These styles myself and the others wear are quite diverse, aren't they. Another thing that shows how different the worlds that everyone comes from are." Fjorm said, watching as Akira took over some of the cooking. "If things were different here... It would be wonderful to learn about all these different worlds."

Fjorm looked back to Shay.
"I've noticed that device you carry on your back. What is it?" Fjorm asked, gesturing to the air rifle.

Anakin and Nikki returned, with quite a bit of fish! The group probably wasn't going to eat it all, which was fine. Rations were always good to have. Just in time as Akira finished his own meal, the Taiyaki. Nikki started cooking the fish as well, and Fjorm helped herself to some of the food prepared. The Taiyaki was good, Fjorm nodding and smiling to Akira.

"Caw! Caw caw!" With the fluttering of wings, a large raven landed on a tree branch above the group. The bird looked down at the heroes, tilting its head and hopping back and forth before fluttering down and landing next to Bennett. It looked the adventurer up and down, before tugging at the Pyro Vision on his belt with its beak.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Bennett


Nikki was making eye contact him the whole time she was eating, Bennett looking onwards, seeking the critique from her. He felt like he was really in the zone for this dish. Oblivious to the fact she thought it was terrible, he read her words as compliments.

"Oh! That's probably the slime condensate! I thought it would give it a good little fizz to it, ya know? I would use Slime concentrate to round it up, but I dunno where I put the concentrate I had out."

That's a big improvement! Usually when I cook a lot of adventurers fall unconscious, get big stomach aches, spontaneously combust or something. Maybe these other worldly noodles are balancing it all out!

A stray drop of the purple sludge hit a blade of grass, instantly darkening the greenery and making it droop. Bennett was going to ask a follow up question, but the sound of a bird alerted him. He thought it was Nikki's helpful helper at first, but soon enough an unnamed raven swooped down and inquisitively tugged at his pyro vision fastened on his belt. Judging from the fact it didn't flat out attack him, he assumed it wasn't instantly hostile.

"Huh? Who are you little guy? Are you hungry?Or...maybe you are cold?"

Cordially inviting the raven, he'd grab his vision, carefully detaching it from his person, reaching to place it against the avian's chest.

 

[comic]

ANAKIN SKYWALKER​

—Semperviren Forest, Day 2 Afternoon—​

He’d been all over the galaxy in his time as a Jedi, which had only really been about thirteen years, but in that time he’d seen every corner of galactic cuisine. From the royally traditional to the questionably edible. Bennett’s ‘soup’ conformed to the latter definition.

Nikki should definitely have avoided it. He could sense her discomfort - which she ignored.

She immediately took a taiyaki to stuff it down. That handled the flavor in her mouth, but did little else for her stomach. Regardless, she set about cooking the fish, and Anakin sat cross-legged beside her.

Their conversation earlier had been good at navigating him, like a compass finding north. He was realigned, but he still didn’t feel good. No amount of conversation would tell him what had become of Coruscant, of Padme, of his child, of the senator, of the war... everything was at an end and now he wasn’t there for it.

If he just had more power, then he could be done with this. Destroy Surtr and his forces, find a way home with this ‘nexus,’ and be done with it all.

It was here that a raven entered the clearing, immediately seeking out Bennett and his pyro vision. Immediately, Anakin felt something off. Something strange. He quickly rose back to his feet, staring at the bird with uncertainty. Was it the avian he was sensing? Or something else...?

“Bennett, stop,” the knight said just as the boy was indulging the creature. Perhaps it was brash to do so, but Anakin had dealt with enough to know when to trust the force. And it was telling him that something wasn’t as it seemed. So he ignited his lightsaber, undoubtedly tensing the mood.

“Don’t give it that.”

He recognized the feeling in the force. It was a new familiar... It felt almost like Loki. He wasn’t taking chances.​

 

[Fraseandchico]

Akira Tadokoro

The teen, of course, recognized Anakin's jab for what it was, and responded appropriately.

"Suit yourself - Cranky old guys like you don't usually like sweeter stuff anyway." He remarked towards the Jedi - It wasn't fair to call Anakin old, of course, but it was always an easy insult to call someone older than you...Well, old.
Though, before any anger could get any further, it became clear that other members of the group were much happier to take the Taiyaki.

Bennett asked if he was a professional, apparently quite happy with his portion.
"A professional cook? Nah, but making this stuff is my business back home - Food stand in a park, just a bit of money I can save. I'm pretty good at reading people, so I sorta adjust my prices so I'm not overcharging anyone, you know?" He paused. "Not that I'm charging you guys, obviously. I'm off the clock." Meanwhile, he saw Nikki stablise thanks to it after tasting the monstrosity that was once noodles. Shovel Knight remarked about never had heard of it before, and to both of those Akira couldn't help but chuckle a little - Beyond his interactions with Anakin, this little break seemed to make Akira quite happy, even returning Fjorm's smile and nod in the process as he took a piece of the Taiyaki himself and ate it, knowing he'd now have to wait for fish to cook.

Then the bird showed up. Eh, not that weird - Got close to Bennett, but maybe it was just because of his bad luck and and a Raven's (presumed, by Akira) association with such a thing, but clearly someone else had suspicions - Anakin. The esper found it slightly awkward to admit he hadn't been paying attention to what the bird wanted, but when Anakin stood and ignited his lightsaber, telling Bennett to stop, Akira quickly followed.

Suspicious asshole doesn't trust it, ey...? Best check.

He closed his eyes innocuously, and began and try to read the Raven's mind. Most of the time, an Animal couldn't form coherent thoughts enough for mind reading to work, but if this wasn't an animal, or at least if it had the intelligence of a person...

 

[PaprusTeuton]

Shay

Fjorm had a different outlook on the various clothing styles of their companions- she saw them, and their entire cultures, as interesting and fascinating to learn from. Thinking about it, Shay decided that it was true- the mixing of different cultures and concepts would be incredibly interesting, and likely lead to growth for everyone. "I've noticed that device you carry on your back. What is it?" Fjorm asked, gesturing to Shay's air rifle.

"Oh this?" Shay removed the air rifle from his back, holding it in both hands and pointing it upwards. "It's an air rifle. It uses compressed air to launch a something incredibly far. It can launch darts-" he pointed to the primary barrel- "which come in 2 types: Sleep, which I used to put the Muspell commander to sleep, or berserk, which cause the victim to attack everyone nearby."

He pointed to an underbarrel. "It can also launch grenades, small spheres that can have various effects when they explode. There are berserk and sleep variants, which have the same effect as the dart, though covering an entire area. There is also a frag variant, which launches small metal shards in all directions when it explodes, hurting everyone in the area."

As Shay finished the exposition, Akira finished the Taiyaki, which Fjorm retreived. The fish-shaped bread was intriguing, so Shay retrieved one and took a bite. The flavor was fascinating, he couldn't compare it to anything he had eaten before, although bread with some kind of filling was nothing new, this particular method... Shay was enraptured.

He turned to Akira. "This is ama-" Shay was interrupted by Anakin igniting his blade, looking at Bennett- or, rather, a raven which was attempting to retrieve something from the boy's belt. Akira had also stood up, and Shay did so as well, although he put away the air rifle, not wanting to give the wrong impression. He looked between everyone involved, and prayed that noone ended up hurt.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Semperviren Forest​

- Day 2, Noon -​

Fjorm looked over the air rifle curiously. So it was a weapon. With many small, intricate metal parts, well, Fjorm hadn't seen anything quite like it. No, that was incorrect. Fjorm had heard of something of similar shape and size. But that was a magical device of legend, and it was clear to the Princess that this air rifle as Shay called it was not Briedablik.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Anakin activated his lightsaber. Fjorm stood up with Shay, not yet drawing her lance.
"Anakin? What are you doing?" Fjorm asked the Jedi.

The Raven stopped as Bennett unclipped the Pyro Vision from his belt. It turned to look at Anakin as the Jedi stood up and ignited the lightsaber, but did not appear spooked or alarmed by it, merely watching the knight. The same with the others when they stood up. Bennett placed the Pyro Vision on the Raven's chest, and the bird closed its eyes and ruffled its feathers at warmth spread through it.

Akira closed his eyes, using his psychic power to probe into the Raven's mind. There were thoughts from within the Raven, thoughts that Akira could read. They were small, and distant, but as Akira focused, the psychic would feel a strange sensation come over his body...

Spoiler: Akira's experience, continued...

He felt as though he was being pulled towards the crow, but his physical body was stuck in place. Akira was unable to move, unable to speak, unable to even open his eyes. Akira's mind was pulled into the Raven, falling into the darkness of the corvid's eyes.

He was floating now, enveloped totally in darkness.

How rude~ You're quite licentious, aren't you Akira? Peeking into people's private places. Loki's voice spoke from the darkness. It's a fun trick, but you really should be more careful here. Who know what you may find in the minds of those here?

The darkness was suddenly alight in a blast of blinding colors and shapes. Akira's mind would be assailed by a painful mental attack, accompanied by Loki's echoing laughter. Through the colors and light's Loki's form would appear. She walked towards Akira, smiling. The sorceress blew Akira a kiss-

Simultaneously

The Raven's form quickly changed. Where once there was a bird, Loki sat next to Bennett. She had an arm around the adventurer's shoulders, and waved cheerily at Anakin and the others. Fjorm's eyes widened, and she grabbed her lance.
"Thank you, Bennett dear. You're quite the sweetheart, aren't you?" Loki asked, playfully pinching Bennett's cheek. "Hello everyone. So good to see you all again. And with a new friend, a handsome one at that!"
Loki gestured to Shay.
"I don't believe we've been introduced yet. Loki, loyal servant of his royal Highness, King Surtur. You're that assassin that's been causing our troops trouble, aren't you? Shay... Patrick... Cormac." Loki said to the Templar. She looked over the rest of the group. "You've picked up one new face, a lost another. Where is that adorable Little Crow? Don't tell me he fell to that fool Kohle."

And Akira was back in his own body, back in control once more, with one heck of a headache.

 

[comic]

ANAKIN SKYWALKER​

—Semperviren Forest, Day 2 Afternoon—​

And so his instincts, and the force, proved correct.

Loki manifested from the raven, and the familiarity he’d associated with her was put forward clearly. He should have cut her down before she’d even had the chance to transform.

Without even realizing it, Anakin moved himself to stand in front of Nikki, putting himself between her and Loki. He was already in his battle stance, of which betrayed him being open and defenseless, lightsaber hanging by his side, the blue-edged tip sizzling against the snow.

“Get your hands off of him,” he said to her, tone laced with venom. She hadn't come to spy... no, that wouldn’t make sense. If she had, she wouldn’t have approached them in any capacity and merely watched them from afar in her changed form.

So that could only mean she’d come to taunt them, maybe deliver some kind of message. She wasn’t alone, he knew that, knew not to assume otherwise. She couldn’t hope to take a jedi knight by herself, let alone the whole group united. Her pet, the jester, was nearby.

His eyes shifted toward Akira, sensing Loki’s power still active. The teenager’s eyes were closed. He seemed rigid.

Anakin raised his lightsaber, pointing it at Loki. “Release the other boy as well. You came here to talk, so say what you will. Then, I will decide what to do with you.”​

 

[Fraseandchico]

Akira Tadokoro

Spoiler: Akira's thoughts and feelings during the experience...

It felt wrong, that sensation - Something breaching his own mind, it felt harsher than a mind read... And he only saw the darkness. His body felt weightless, detached from itself.

He couldn't move it for a moment on command, like his mind was entraped as he was forced to hear the sorceress mock him.
The mental attack, the blast that pierced the darkness, stung... But Akira's mind would endure - His psychic abilities gave him natural resistance, though it still stung.
Shut...
When Loki's form appeared, Akira raised a fist and threw it straight at the mocking sorceress,
UP!
But just before it could strike, he was forced back to his body...

Akira stumbled as he was returned to his body, his fist suddenly outstretched like the after-pose of a punch, before he pulled it back and held that hand to his head.
"Ngh.."

He noticed Anakin's eyes had glanced to him for a moment, having caught it after he returned to his own body right before the Jedi looked away from him.
"I'm fine," He told Anakin, a slight snarl in his tone as he regained his footing - Though the anger wasn't directed at Anakin. "It was some weak-ass mental attack, nothing I can't handle." The esper added, shooting a glare right at Loki.

"You hear that, scumbag? Weak. As Hell. Maybe focus on your own tricks instead of trying to copy my stuff." He taunted, continuing to glare at her, gritting his teeth.
Despite his statements, he still took the time to use Self-Heal - Better safe than sorry.

After that, he would make sure to regain his footing, trying to remain alert.

 

[Mokko]

Nikki Prez
Nikki was really locked in on the fish- so much so that the bird’s appearance very nearly didn’t catch her attention. She was crouched, hovering a stick over the fire, taking a more hands-on approach to cooking up the biggest piece of food they’d found.
"This smells soooo good..."
Finally, she’d lost the foodie Gazpacho’s attention, who WAS staring at the raven, right up until it turned into a woman. Gazpacho turned to nibble at his underwing, apparently not recognizing Loki from the last time the group had encountered her.

“Oh geez…” Nikki grit her teeth. Of all the enemies to sneak into their snacktime to kill the mood, why’d it have to be her? Forget megaweirdo, this one was gigafreak status. Already, she’d attacked Akira- the only thing stopping Nikki from sending Gazpacho forward was, well… Bennett being adjacent to her. With his whole, uh, misfortune thing, a big Drill Peck would probably somehow go through him instead of Loki.

“Nice of ya to introduce yourself, lady. Now, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll bid him farewell,” she huffed, now on her feet and stepping forward, though Anakin had positioned himself in front of her, the big bird at his side. Gazpacho then seemed to realize Loki was a threat, now that his trainer had come forth and was waving a big fish on a stick at the Muspell foe. She kept the crispy-skinned fish extended, and her other friendship-bracelet-bearing wrist back, yet slightly elevated. She swallowed. If she played this right, and didn’t mind tapping into the Destiny Marble… would it be possible to neutralize a threat as tricky as Loki right now?

As soon as that thought entered her mind, she could feel a tension in her free hand, like the bracelet had tightened on its own- like the marble itself was excited.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Bennett


...
...Huh?

He was still processing the information whilst everyone made their threats and reacted to the situation on hand. His hand still frozen in the 'reaching out' position for the raven despite there being a new arm around him. His fingers twitched with the vision in their grasp, Bennett slowly turning to Loki's gaze, blinking twice.

"So...not a bird then?"

 

[PaprusTeuton]

Shay

So the raven wasn't a raven. And the others were familiar with this not-raven, Loki. Who... knew his name. "How do you know my name?" asked the now on-guard templar, once again pulling out the Air Rifle. Although this was certainly one of the strangest things he had seen so far, it lined up with everything else.

Making sure the current dart in the Air Rifle was a Sleep Dart, Shay aimed it at Loki- however, he immediately remembered Bennet's bad luck. Inevitably, Loki would disappear, and the shot would sail into the boy instead. So Shay aimed it differently, in a manner that if Loki disappeared, the shot would simply fly into the ground. The Templar did not shoot.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Semperviren Forest​

Day 2, Noon​

Loki casually watched the groups as they threatened, insulted, and pointed their weapons at her. She seemed quite unbothered by all the fuss, rolling her eyes and sighing. Loki waved her free hand at Anakin dismissively.
"Please, General. Akira is-" Loki was interrupted by Akira coming out of his trance, snarling angrily.
"You hear that, scumbag? Weak. As Hell. Maybe focus on your own tricks instead of trying to copy my stuff." Akira said. Loki rolled her eyes once more.
"Darling, you are the one that looked in my head. It's not my fault you couldn't handle what you saw." Loki said to the esper.

"So... not a bird then?" Bennett asked Loki. The sorceress smiled down at Bennett, playing with his hair.
"No dear, not a bird." Loki said. She nodded to the Pyro Vision Bennett was holding. "You better put that away dear, before I forget myself and try to take it from you."

“Nice of ya to introduce yourself, lady. Now, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll bid him farewell,” Nikki said, taking a fighting stance. Loki said nothing in response to that, glancing over Nikki and appearing to be unimpressed by her threat. Her gaze paused on Nikki's friendship bracelet, eyeing it curiously. Her curiosity was interrupted at Shay's question.

"How do you know my name?" Shay asked, aiming his rifle at Loki. Loki pursed her lips, giving Shay a mischievous smile.
"My magics allow me to know many things, Patrick. You didn't think that all the trouble you were causing would go completely unnoticed, did you? I've seen many things about you. A little bit about all of you, in fact." Loki said.

She looked back to the rest of the group.
"But the General is right. Or is it Commander? It's so difficult to tell these things." Loki said, looking to Anakin. "I did come here to talk."
Loki had ignored Anakin's command to release Bennett, continuing to play with his hair as he spoke.
"I came here to give you information you may find interesting. I'd like to tell you it, but, well. With all these weapons pointed at me, and fish of course," Loki said, nodding to Nikki. "It's making me so nervous, I'm forgetting what exactly it is."

Loki raised her free hand, and in a poof of smoke, a little white flag appeared in it. She waved it back and forth.
"I even brought a white flag of truce to speak under. Of course, honoring enemy truces is optional in your book, isn't it General?" Loki asked Anakin. "Even with this white flag, I'm afraid if I let go of adorable Bennett here, you'll try to cut me to ribbons immediately."

 

[comic]

ANAKIN SKYWALKER​

—Semperviren Forest, Day 2 Afternoon—​

One by one, other threats were hurled at Loki, who took them in stride expectedly; she reminded Anakin of Ventress, yet with the discipline of Count Dooku. She reminded Anakin most of the Count’s cunning. Not a word out of her mouth could be trusted.

He’d rightly assumed her motive in arriving, though the jedi seriously doubted she was here to help in any capacity. If he had to guess, this would go one of two ways. One, she’d either try to give them misleading information to spring a trap or two, she’d try to appeal to them in some way, get them to rethink allegiances.

Anakin doubted it would be another angle than that, but he was open to surprises.

Following Loki’s words, the knight narrowed his bright blue eyes, glancing briefly around him - before his entire persona shifted from openly hostile to almost casual in the blink of an eye. The lightsaber faded and he spun the hilt for a moment before sliding it onto his belt. “Okay,” he raised his empty hands halfway up, his form becoming less rigid. “Everyone, put your weapons down. Let’s hear her out. We won’t attack.”

He was lying, of course, but he did want to hear what she had to say.

With an air of clear confidence, he walked toward Loki, still casual in his demeanor. “Under the condition my friend here isn’t getting your... unwanted attention.” He placed a hand on the shoulder of Bennett that Loki wasn’t hovering oppressively over. “You have my word. Deal?”
​