Chapter Text
Warmth immediately hits Techno’s sun-licked skin the moment he steps outside of his family’s cottage. The mud under his shoes has dried up enough that he doesn’t have to worry about it getting stuck to his boots. Techno brushes away the hair on his forehead
“Hurry up Wilbur. I wanna check on the tadpoles. They’ll have hatched by now.”
Wilbur walks out of the cottage holding Tommy’s toddler sized hand in his.
“Why are you in such a hurry? It’s not like they can leave the lake.”
Wilbur and Tommy catch up to Techno who impatiently waits at the front gate. He taps his hands rapidly on one of the wooden poles that makes up the fence.
“Because” he stretches the word, “we might be able to find the forest god if we hurry. It always spawns right after the rain.”
Wilbur rolls his eyes, “The forest god doesn’t even exist. You just want to throw the frisbee into the lake and make me get it.”
Techno looks offended by this statement. “Wha- That’s not true! No proof. Wait!” He cut himself off. “The frisbee!” He takes off back towards the house, kicking up wads of soft earth under his boots.
Will groans at his own idiocy, he reminded Techno about the frisbee. He picks up Tommy who wraps his small arms around Will’s neck.
Techno dashes out of the house “I got it!” He waves the red disc rapidly in the air as he gets closer. “Lets go.” He stretches out the “O” on go as he trots past Wilbur into the forest around their house.
The three boys walk under a canopy of trees, light passing through opens between the leaves and speckling the dirt path with gold. Water droplets pool on the leaves above and drip into puddles that have yet to evaporate. They come up on a clearing. The weeds are overgrown from the rainstorms and stretch tall as they soak up sunlight.
Techno squeals with delight “Come on, come on. The tadpoles.”
He sets down the frisbee in the grass and starts looking into the pond for tadpoles. His deep brown eyes track the darting movement of small fish and catch glimpses of flying bugs that buzz in his ears before moving away.
“I don’t see anything Wilbur.” He shoos away a pond skater as he tries to get a better view into the murky water.
“They probably haven’t hatched yet.”
“No. They have had to have hatched. Their eggs are gone.”
Wilbur looks over at Techno from the other side of the small clearing. “Maybe they were eaten.” He mumbles.
“I hope they weren’t eaten.” Techno says without looking up, his mouth stretches into a frown as his eyes continue to search for dark wiggling creatures in the water.
Tommy yells out with pleasure, cutting through the silence between Techno and Wilbur. Will turns his attention towards his younger brother who has taken to using the frisbee as a hammer and smashes the plastic disc against the smooth rocks dotted around the pond. He babbles at Will. Wilbur pats Tommy on his small head and sits down next to him, pulling his knees up to his chest, enjoying the sun and watching Techno.
Will dug his heel into the mud, making a small hole in the rocky dirt.
“I’m bored Techno can we play now?” He pushed the damp dirt further away from himself.
“No. I haven’t seen any tadpoles yet.” Was techno’s only reply.
Will cocked his head back to look straight up into the sky and groaned. “Techno I’m bored.” He stretched out his words.
“I’m gonna go home if you’re gonna keep being boring. And then Dadza is gonna get mad at you ‘cause you didn’t come home with me and Tommy.”
“Heh?” Techno looked over his shoulder at Wilbur. He got up and patted the dirt off his gray trousers.
“Fine. What if I play one game of frisbee with you and you don’t leave yet?”
Will’s eyes lit up with excitement. He grabbed the frisbee out of Tommy’s hand, who cried out in surprise.
“Here Tommy.” Will fiddled with his pockets and produced a small wooden moth carving which he pushed into his brother’s palm. “You can play with that.”
Wilbur trotted over to the other side of the clearing excited to finally play with his brother.
“Are you ready?”
Techno nodded.
“Ok! Catch!” Will yelled across the clearing, throwing the frisbee towards Techno.
The magenta and white striped disc flew through the air and wobbled as it neared Techno. Techno caught the disc by sandwiching it between his hands, Techno threw the disc back to Wilbur who tried to catch it on his finger so it would spin like he had seen Philza do. It bounced off his hand and rolled into the dirt instead. Techno and Wilbur passed the disc back and forth like this for a while, Techno catching it perfectly every time and Wilbur continuously failing to balance it on his finger.
Wilbur catches the frisbee from Techno where it falls into the dirt for the umpteenth time. Will found himself increasingly annoyed with his inability to do the frisbee trick and Techno’s ability to catch the frisbee without fail. He grumbled under his breath and launched the frisbee off in a different direction, determined to make sure Techno wouldn’t be able to catch it in time. It flew into the forest, disappearing into the brush.
“What’d you do that for?!” Techno yelled across the clearing.
“Sorry! I messed up.” Will replied as if he didn’t do it on purpose. “Can you go get it?”
“Heh? What- why? You threw it.”
“I always get it! And… ‘cause I’m…” He looks around the clearing. His eyes settle on Tommy who is deeply engrossed in watching a line of ants clear the wreckage from the rain. “Cause I’m busy watching Tommy.” He says with an air of finality.
“Ugh. Fine. But you owe me.” Techno disappears into the bushes.
Techno puts his head against the dirt ground to look under the brush easier. The overgrown weeds and grass tickle his cheeks as they sway softly in the breeze. He spots the bright red toy easily in the bright green undergrowth. Patches of sunlight filtered through the leaves give the entire scene a sense of calm.
“There you are.”
His eyes drift to the side and he spots two pairs of scuffed up, muddied hooves.
Techno sits up. “Oh. Hallo.”
His eyes meet the eyes of a boar, both its pupils are whitened with cataracts and old age. Large patches of dried blood splash across its dark brown pelt. Broken arrows stick out of its flank and its long tusks are caked in dried mud and rust colored blood.
“Are you ok?” There's a twinge of fear in Techno’s voice.
He fumbles with his red cardigan. “H- here.” He holds out a golden carrot.
“I was saving it for the horses but it looks like you might need it more… If you follow me my dadza can patch you up with some healing potions.”
The boar stands unmoving and silent.
“Um… That's ok too.” Techno reaches out his hand and waves it in front of the boar’s face. “Hallo? Can you hear me?”
There’s a rush of movement as the Techno is knocked into the mud. The boar’s entire body weight crashed into Techno’s small frail body, crushing him.
The moment Techno’s skin comes into contact with the boar’s matted bristles, he feels completely numb. A tingling feeling overwhelms him, racing across his body, he feels as if there is an unscratchable itch just under his entire skin as if his organs themselves are in need of scratching.
He collapses on to the ground shivering from the uncontrollable feeling, his thoughts are filled with the words from voices he’s never heard before. He wants to scream and cry out, the static under his skin and in his mind is unbearable but he can’t seem to make a sound instead he screams in silent pain, his throat too choked up to make even the smallest noise.
Techno isn’t sure how long it had been before he heard his name being called. It’s much darker than it was during the afternoon with Wilbur and Tommy. A shadow passes over his blurred vision.
“Techno! Techno stay with me mate.” He hears his dad, Philza’s voice.
He felt a warm rough hand on his shoulder “I need you to eat this. Small bites alright mate?”
Techno tries to nod but his head is pounding and his body still itches. Trying to nod only blurs his vision and makes his head swim.
He feels the sudden cold of being drenched in liquid; it smells of wine and old spiderwebs. The wet cold feeling disappears as the potion evaporates into the evening air. Techno feels a calloused hand cup his jaw and puts something in his mouth. It was sweet like honey and hard like rock candy.
A golden apple? E? W- what was going on? Gapple. Eat it. /rainbowchat. Apple? It's sweet.
Techno swallowed the small apple slices and his body started to itch less. The more he ate, the less he shook and the warmer his skin felt. His head was still pounding which made it hard to decipher his thoughts from the thousands of other thoughts going through his mind.
But he began breathing normally.
“You're alright now mate. I’ve got you.”
Techno felt warm scarred arms wrap around his body, he was scooped up by Phil and Techno felt himself give into unconsciousness as his father jumped up into the air and flew off.