By the time Poppy was content with their surroundings, the sun was completely gone and the campground was lit with small pit fires. Rust has started one of their own as Poppy continued to rant about his life when they were split.
Poppy had been taken to the house in snowdin, a place Rust went to only once and avoided like a curse from there on. He had lived with the others inside a two story house, complete with a locked basement and a run-down shed hidden in the surrounding forest. For a majority of his life, he lived alone in the house; and had taken to sewing and cooking to pass the time.
"My dish was once voted "Best meal" for almost a month, unfortunately, I was one upped by the resident chef soon after."
He had heard tales of the "eternal flame". No one knew the elemental's true name, and it was rumored that the monster was an old captain of the Elemental crew that sailed through molten rock near the core in The Hotlands.
The other continued to tell his stories of the small town he lived in, how there were guards at every corner; how they would continue to ask residents of Piracy or any suspicious activity.
In return he told Poppy how he was taken in by the "Sea Dogs".
Don't say anything about me Rusty.
Following their direction, he had to leave holes in many of his earlier tales with the Sea Dogs.
"So how did you get accepted into the Sea Dogs anyways? Tales tell that they usually dust any monster who lives by the land."
Don't.
Rusty had to word this carefully, Very carefully.
"i..Found the crew inside a cave when I was very young. I don't exactly know when, sometime during Winter?"
Poppy had stopped shuffling through his inventory, seeming to settle himself like he was listening to an age long tale.
"I was defending myself against an enemy at the time,"
The other raised a brow at that. "Enemy? At a young age?"
Rust ignored the query for now, continuing with the story.
"They had cornered me in the local town at the time, and I ran into the forest. When I saw the cavern, I didn't think they went through the trouble of hunting me down."
Poppy looked genuinely surprised.
"Turns out the Sea Dogs didn't like the guy either, they saved me that day."
Poppy could tell his brother was "reminiscing", and took over the fire. He took a quick peek in his inventory, pulling out some dried meat and flatbread.
He tore the snacks into smaller pieces as Rust continued to tell his tales. The Sea Dogs were a hearty group, joined with rouge guards and petty thieves. The rumor that they dusted anyone in sight was entirely false, in fact; they only fought if the opposing team took the first shot. They had sailed the rougher waters of Waterfall and the Great Lakes To stay hidden from society, living off whatever they caught in the waters or managed to steal on land.
"We even stole a Box-" Rust continued. "And we rigged it so the whole crew can deposit anything, and shuffle through anything left by the others. Basically an infinite storage unit."
Poppy interrupted his story to ask how they rigged the Box, if they stole anything and if they were the reason all his quills and ink went missing. With a laugh, Rust explained that they only connected to the crew, since it was some weird magic hack he never cared to learn.
"It only worked with me because they took some of my magic for the project."
When they both succeeded in exhausting each other's words for the night, they crawled into a tent provided by the others. As they blew out the candle tucked inside the lantern, they missed the intrigued pinpricks that made up another monster's magic; eying the pot of simmering meat and soaked bread above the fire hungerly.
It was early morning when Poppy woke up. His twin was still asleep, curled up in a loose ball inside the sleeping bag. The sound of the small fire had long since gone and he was looking forward to seasoning their breakfast. It wouldn't be his best meal, but it's better than nothing. He took one last look at Rust before he sat upright, digging through his inventory for his journal. Usually he writes the date and time that he woke up, but seeing as they were in an alternate universe…
He may need some help figuring out the dates. For now, Poppy wrote down the date of his own universe.
Sunday October 01, 1893.