Campfire Stories [Got Full Real Fast]

The day was finally over, the last of the customers had finally left, and Patty and Thog were cleaning up inside the restaurant. Which just left a pink-furred kitty sitting atop a big doggy-shaped vehicle. Or rather, a vehicle-shaped doggy. This kitty was also staring up at the night sky with her differently-colored eyes. That meant that she was somebody special, and not somebody's shitty merc. Mistral the Tailmon absentmindedly pondered the mystery of it all. "So if all of those lights are galaxies, or planets, or something, does that mean that someone could be looking at our planet right now?" She asked the Komondomon she sat upon.

"Buh," He commented, ever the source of conventional wisdom.

"I guess you're right. The odds of that are pretty low," She admitted, yet she still continued to look up. Low odds or not, the possibility that there was someone out there looking down at them still existed, in what could possibly a universal staring contest.

And Mistral wasn't about to lose.

Considering she was supposed to be on guard duty, probably not the best choice of her time. But the wind would tell her if someone approached.

Which just left Buddy, the Komondomon to his own vices. And he smelled food. And warmth. And the giant armored fuzzball decided he wanted to get cozy. So if one recolored Digimon wasn't enough to ruin Mana and Nami's tranquil night, a recolored Tailmon would have to add to it, while Buddy plopped down nearby, the force of which caused a ripple of rustles through the grass.

Buddy turned his head to the campers, the Tailmon still sitting on it, though she was still looking up at the sky. Buddy wagged his tongue for a couple of seconds, then greeted them.

"Buh."

    Apparently, the act of cooking on a random place on the hills had been enough to progressively attract quite the menagerie of digimon; they all arrived in short succession, but Mana could identify them as a weirdly-colored Guilmon, a Komondomon that carried a weirdly-colored Tailmon, a weirdly-colored Fladramon, and a Growmon.

    “Welcome, travelers!” The Meicoomon greeted cheerfully, waving a paw at the sudden congregation that had shown up. “Please, take a seat! Can’t offer much in the way of comfort, but that’s just how the wilderness is, ain’t it?” Least to say, the cat’s tone seemed to be friendly enough, a happy smile crossing over her features as she greeted the newcomers.

    While making sure to stir the ingredients when needed, she continued. “I shall introduce myself at once! Hailing from a long-lasting dynasty of powerful heroes, I am the Heiress of Sunfall itself, the Avatar of Tempest and none other than the Daughter of Tifón himself! My name’s Mana Reines Sophia Chardelon El Nix, and it’s a pleasure to meet you all.” Without a doubt, none of those names rang a bell, and that was for a good reason.

    After a pause, and making sure that the stew was going well, a paw pointed at her sister. “Over there is none other than my sworn companion and younger sister, Nami Ophelia Lucille Chardelon El Nix! She bears all my epithets plus many more related to her keen intellect and calculating demeanor. Together, we’re the Twin Heroines of the Storm!”

    Once the introduction was finished, Nami interrupted her current activity for some moments in order to look at the group, waving a paw while speaking on her usual monotone. “Joy. I'm glad to meet everyone present.”

    The contrast was fairly easy to appreciate, but that didn’t matter all that much to Mana, who just looked at everyone with a grin on her face. “The stew will be done soon, so why doesn’t everyone introduce themselves in the meantime? I’d love to hear the exploits of the digimons that are sharing a table with us tonight!”

While the introductions began, Mistral didn't bother looking at the respective speakers, though her tail swayed back and forth with the various tunes of one of the kitty's grandiose gestures. But her eyes remained locked at the stars above.

Not long after the green-scaled Guilmon with the blue scarf finished introducing herself, she blurted out, "Uh-huh. That's nice..." Evidently, she grew bored of her universal staring contest, and looked around. There were more people here. More lizards, at that. Was there an infestation going on, or something? Welp, people were apparently introducing themselves now. "I'm Mistral. I'm a bouncer for this burger joint here," She patted the Komondomon's head. "And this is Buddy. He's the titular burger joint."

"Buhbuh." Buddy confirmed. And apparently not to be outdone by Mana's introduction, he added, "Bubuh. Bububuhbuhbuh, buhbuhbuh, buh buh buh," And for good measure, "Buh."

"Well said, Buddy," She praised, scratching at the big doggy's big tuft of fur. Buddy was pretty hard to understand sometimes, but if one was enlightened, then one could truly understand his wise words. "Let's see... there are two others inside, but they're cleaning up right now. Maybe they'll come out later. Or maybe they'll go to bed." She shrugged at the notion.

"Anything else of interest that I wanna share with strangers on the road...?" She asked herself, bobbing her head from side to side as if no one else were around. "Nah. I think that's it. Good to meet you. Probably."

    While there was no doubt the Komondomon was a good boy, it was a regrettable outcome that Mana couldn’t offer pats to him due to the inherent risk of getting fur into the pot. A tragedy, no matter how you looked at it.

    Unless it was from Nami’s viewpoint. She didn't really do dogs, and was more than happy to continue in her little stargazing session for as long as possible.

    Gihai herself seemed to be quite pleasant too! The Meicoomon had to admit that the scarf was fairly cool, and pondered on the value that incorporating such an accessory could have on her image as a heroine. But not for long, since the identity of this so-called Coolmon had already piqued this curiosity. “I wish to meet this Coolmon at some point! I'm sure they have plenty of thrilling exploits to share as stories. Knight-errants always partake on epic adventures, don't they?”

    Eldoradimon was a pretty interesting subject to be introduced, and while there were a variety of opinions regarding it, the Meicoomon just shrugged. “We don't really do cities, but maybe it'd be worthwhile to visit it at some point. How's it? I've heard that the city doesn't admit humans within it or something. Is that true? That's a fairly controversial decision for the times, if you ask me!”

    The group that had gathered was no doubt of the colorful sort, that much was for sure; from the lonesome kitties to the quirky reptiles, they really had everything in between those extremes. And even sudden photoshoots! While Mana hadn't bothered to catch a glimpse of the pictures that didn't include her or her sister, it was fairly clear that Nami hadn't been bothered by the whole deal on her picture while Mana was posing alongside Speed on hers.

    “That’s a good idea!” She suddenly chipped in. “I wouldn’t mind having some souvenirs of this night, but I don't have one of those thingies, sadly. Could you print it and send it to me at some point? I'd be really thankful!”

    That aside, it looked like at the very least the stew had finished cooking! Without even being prompted to, Nami began to rise up and began to line up enough stone bowls and the necessary utensils for every digimon present while Mana began to pour the stew in them.

    “This is one of my best dishes!” She proclaimed, proudly. “In one of our adventures, we fought a ferocious Mammothmon that didn't stand a chance against us! The thing was so big we've been eating it ever since. The seasonings and vegetables incorporate a mixture of Veggiemons and Jyagamons; a pretty tasty combination!”

     Nami didn't waste time and was already eating. Mana, on the other hand, took a couple seconds to inhale the delicious steam that came off her bowl before beginning with her portion.

Welp, that was a bunch of stuff that certainly happened. There was a super fast not-Flamedramon that went around taking selfies with people. How rude. Though, when he showed his photo of Mistral, she was looking directly into the camera, her eyes reflecting the moonlight that produced a lens flare that covered the entire photo. "Sorry. That always happens when someone takes my photo. I'm not very photogenic. But... I have to say that I'm impressed!" She looked over to Speed. "Your camera is able to take photos so quickly... and they're not even that blurry. And they're so clear despite the low-light setting. That kind of upgrade had to have cost you a fortune! Even some professional photographers don't have cameras that good!"

"Buh." Buddy confirmed resting his head onto the ground until the food was ready. Buddy wanted to start eating right away, but he was a good boy. He'd be patient.

There was talk about Eldoradimon, and Mistral had admittedly never been. She neither loved nor hated humans. They were just creatures that existed nowadays. Those that could turn into Digimon were weird, though, and she didn't really get the purpose of the humans who just made Digimon digivolve. Wouldn't it just be easier if the Digimon could do that on their own? Well, no point about it. She hadn't met any humans personally, and that probably wasn't gonna change any time soon.

Ironic foreshadowing aside, however, it would seem that the food was ready. Though according to Mana, its origins came from rather dubious sources. She already seemed to like to talk up a bunch of things, but if this was true, then... Yeah. Mistral would rather eat meat that grew from the ground instead of people. Buddy didn't seem to mind, though. Food was food, after all! He gingerly licked at his bowl due to lacking the opposable thumbs needed to eat properly.

Thankfully, Mistral wouldn't need to politely turn down the offer for food, as exiting the back of the Komondomon was a hulking rabbit creature with propeller-like ears, an Angoramon. You know, one of those Digimon that's totally always existed before now. He wore a plain white apron which he pulled off and moved over towards Mistral and her bowl of maybe-Digimon stew.

"You guys done?" Mistral asked. The Angoramon nodded and grunted. "The master?"

"Bed. Thog smell food." He stated. Mistral lifted her bowl over to the rabbit, who immediately picked it up and took a bite. He grunted again, then reached into a thick pouch of fur, pulling out a cheeseburger that had been hidden away. He dipped the burger into the stew, and began chowing down.

"So... this is Thog. He's a helper around here. Doesn't speak much," Mistral explained. Then explaining got boring. "So... what's bringing everyone around these parts lately?" Not that she cared much. She just wanted to stop talking.

    If it hadn’t been fairly obvious until now, at least one of the cats was a fairly sociable individual! She seemed to be in her element when it came to getting to know more people and listening to their stories; and, to say the least, tonight’s company seemed to be fairly peculiar and interesting. Not to mention, knowledgeable. “So, Eldoradimon is a nope, huh? It really sounds worse than the average city!” For somebody pronouncing a negative opinion, Mana’s tone was oddly cheerful. “And that’s setting a fairly high bar.”

    Just like Eldoradimon, Coolmon seemed to be a fairly interesting topic, even though one that needed the eponymous digimon to be discussed fully. The older cat proceeded to nod at the reptile’s comment. While epics were certainly more interesting than mere tales, one of those probably took more than a single night to narrate.

    A detail not that pertinent to the current conversation, though. Especially when Speed’s selfie-taking prowess took the spotlight regarding their current interactions. Maybe not the best course of action to take in the face of a group that mostly consisted of newcomers, but besides Gihai, it seemed like not many minded the weirdly-colored Fladramon’s antics. Mana even seemed entertained by them, to the point of grinning broadly at him.

    “Don’t worry! I’d rather be the smart one than the pretty one, anyway! Brains are more powerful than looks! And probably tastier, anyway. I’ve never eaten anyone’s looks. Has anyone here done it?” Surely, not even the writer knew how eating somebody’s looks was possible, but that was a little detail in the Meicoomon’s mind.

    What about the food served? The Meicoomon didn’t mind in the slightest if it was rejected or not; their loss, after all! Compared to normally-grown food, it certainly had a bit of a… gamey taste to it. Whether that was better or worse than everyday Digital World food, that depended on each digimon’s palate! At the very least, nobody eating it seemed like they minded.

    With the meal ongoing, the two cats waved at Thog. He seemed like a digimon of a few words, so he probably wouldn’t mind the succinct greeting, especially if it was on their way to enjoy some tasty food! And subsequently share some stories, it seemed; Speed seemed to be on his own little problem regarding the situation, something to which Nami decided to answer. Mostly because her sister seemed to be busy eating seconds.

    “Negative. We’ve yet to see any humans on our travels. Save for two girls with brown hair and their canids.” What about themselves? That was a short answer as well. “Answer. I’m a traveling artist in search of the ultimate source of inspiration in order to craft a masterpiece of the likes none has seen me before. And Mana-nee is…”

    “Tagging along for the ride! Traveling with Nami-chan is a lot of fun, and we get to live a very fulfilling life, doing pretty much what we please when we please! Ain’t that everyone anyone would wish for?” Maybe Mana had gotten a little carried away by her own words, but it was fairly obvious that she really meant everything said. “In any case! Right now we’re tracking a fairly elusive digimon. Anyone willing to accompany us once we’re done eating?”

    Maybe that proposal had come a bit out of the blue, but wasn’t that pretty much how the Meicoomon operated? Should’ve been figured out by now.