Awakened

Strange Cuisine and Magics

The group was silent as the piglins passed them by. All of them were covered in gold armor, eyeing the mismatched team with surprise and wariness. A few were holding swords and openly staring, though all continued walking around the corner, heading into the bastion. There were others carrying numerous buckets of water across their shoulders, also alarmed at the unexpected guests.

Epic had grunted at them, putting many more at ease, though more still were all too curious, eyes wide and intrigued. A few were a little scared, even.
Blue felt a little guilty about that. He couldn't help but remember Dust's rather offhand comment- how piglins for whatever reason feared soul fire.
And his eyelights, for better or for worse, looked exactly like soul fire.

The procession eventually disappeared around the corner, and everyone minutely relaxed, having been a little on edge with all the potentially hostile piglins.
“..Are we really that scary?” Blue mumbled from his seat in the chair.
“Trust me, you're the opposite of scary.” Killer reassured him quickly, shooting a nasty glare in the direction of the piglins.

“We're just used to new things bein’ deadly is all. And you Bruhs are like us but not, so it's kinda freaky.” Epic explained, one hoof crossed over the other as he rubbed his chin on one of the gold bangles around his foreleg.
“Have you really never met anyone else awake who's not a hog or piglin?” Geno asked curiously.
“Nope!” His expression turned somber an instant after the cheery reply.
“It's been me an’ him for a long time.”

No one had anything to say after that.
The weight of remembered loneliness was familiar to them all, one way or another.
At least Epic and Cross had each other.
Actually.. how long had they been together in the first place?

Blue was about to ask when Epic sat up straighter, floppy ears lifting as he glanced at the doors. A moment later, he hefted himself to his hooves and nudged the doors open. Inside was the familiar form of Cross, except he had removed most of his armor with hands full of.. somethings.

He stepped into the open, revealing it to be strange looking food of predominantly yellow and red, with additional baskets hanging off his arms as he set everything on the table. Some plates had been carefully balanced on top of the baskets as well, seemingly carved from polished netherrack. The porous texture was unmistakable under the unknown gloss.

“Oh wow, that's a lot.” Geno marvelled at everything being set down, the rest of the group meandering closer out of curiosity.
“I didn't know what to bring, so I brought a little bit of everything.” Cross explained, taking an oddly luminous, purple-tinted yellow apple from a basket and tossing it over his shoulder. Epic easily snatched it up before it could go far, nearing the table himself.

“What happened to those apples?” Blue asked, fascinated by the swirl of concentrated energy within them.
“Oh, those? Sweetapples, they're soaked in obi tears.”
A pause.
Dust squinted. “..You mean the crying obsidian.”
“Yes? What do you call the liquid?”
“I've never actually called it anything, I just didn't know you could just. Put it in food?”

“I'm sure it's fine, it's never bothered any piglins to eat it.” Geno pointed out, picking up a syrupy apple only to find it had been cut, slices falling out as he dropped it in surprise. “Oh.”
“Eehhh.. you try it.” Dust suggested to Blue, who briefly hesitated. Cross just watched them in a mix of amusement and confusion as Blue delicately took hold of a slice.

He almost coughed at the sheer sweetness of it before shaking his skull. “That is very sweet.” He declared, thinking. “And something else.. I'm not good with identifying flavors.”
“Tart?” Dust offered, now picking at a slice himself.
“I think so?” Blue answered as Cross slowly slid into a seat at the end of the table.