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Techno tied his trusty stead, Carl, outside shortly after arriving at the mushroom inspired building. They took a glance around to make sure that no one had followed him or that anyone was near by before making his way to the door. The near god knocked on the doors of the library before walking on in. He was in his full piglin form and netherite armor to match. The intention of this was so they wouldn't be stopped on the way. People always assumed he was off to a battle of some sort of thing when he was like this and he was more then ok with that. Once he was inside, he shouted a small 'I'm here Karl' so he wouldn't spook the forgetful time traveler.
It was getting alarming how many people he knew with memory lost as severe as it was. Technoblade took off their armor and put it into their inventory. Each piece had their gentle glow as they disappeared from sight. They thought about turning to his more human like form but honestly, he really didn't feel like it. They made their way to the upstairs area. It was more of a lounge where people could stay in the library and read comfortably. It was the perfect spot for book club. This is where he found Karl.
Karl, the time traveler not the horse, turned his nose up from the final touches on his recent travel story 'The Wild West' which seemed to be the final push he needed into completely forgetting some *very important* people, but that was a development next in line to the book at hand, 'still life with tornado' by A.S. King, but after your typical book club activities is when the no exceptions part comes in. "Hey Techno!" the time traveler chimed, pushing the freshly inked pages away from him offering Technoblade his usual spot across from him popping the book out of his inventory, "good afternoon! It wasn't to much trouble getting over here was it? " Karl asked, skimming the the pages of the book, refreshing himself on anything that was vague at best, like the first few pages, before closing the book around his finger so he didn't lose his page, or whatever thought he had on the pages with it.
Technoblade glanced at the freshly written book before making his way to his spot. He pulled that weeks book out of his inventory and sat down. "No trouble at all. It was only 9000 blocks away from my home." He said, sarcasm leaking from his words. He sat as properly as he possibly could. They glanced at the back of the book to give not only themselves a refresh but also all the confused voices one too. "I got to do some weed control just to use the paths though so that sucked. Has your time here been kind to you?" He asked, genuinely curious on the question. They knew that being here alone wouldn't affect him at all since he wasn't just here. They knew about the traveling but he didn't say anything. It would break the illusion. No instead he would be content with the book club and making sure karl didn't forget the important things. Too bad it was a little too late for that.
Karl looked around at the library casting a down cast look at the hand written tale, "I'm sorry I didn't think to clean up the paths for horseback." he snickered tapping his nails on the table in front of him absentmindedly, with a nod, he remembered telling techno, he wrote that down, but he hesitated to say anything regarding his recent "adventure". Dipping the tip of his pen in the tacky ink, making sure if he closed it, it wouldn't be a second upcoming disaster in the memory department. Techno chuckled, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it. Those blood vines grow faster then you'd expect" he muttered before listening to the others woes. "It's been nice, I'm just confused. I think I'm mixing people up again." Again, he checked the ink in the same manner, like he hadn't less than 30 seconds ago, new formed nervous habit most likely; "their faces are so similar." he mumbled off.
He nodded, leaning back slightly. "I bet they are. Who are the people you're mixing up? Maybe I can provide some assistance?" They offered, tilting their head slightly. His noses twitched slightly as he watched him checking the ink again. It was interesting what people did when they started to feel upset. He never really knew what to do in situations like these, expect providing a solution. It was hard for them to say their feelings were valid or that everything was going to be ok. He only cared for a small selection of people so the best he could do was protect them from feeling those feelings at all. Karl was one of those people but there was nothing Techno could do to protect him from the one thing hurting him the most. Himself.
"He said his name was Sapnap and that we are engaged, I would have remembered someone if we were engaged right? I thought I wrote it down, I read my book cover to cover and I can't even recognize the name." karl started selecting his equivalent to ranboo's *do not read* book, from his inventory opening it to his recent pages his expression confused , "-but I could have sworn that, was the guy from that masquerade? or maybe it was from that town..?" anxiously checking his ink once again, closing the book with the familiar, spiral cover as the rest of his tales when it came up dry. "but I recognized the face, you know? so was was like no? I could have sworn that face went with the name James, but he didn't seem to like being called James very much. So I'm, lost."
Techno's entirety stiffened as he heard what he was saying. On one hand, they were flattered that Karl remembered Techno and their little book club but on the other, much more concerning, hand, this was fucked up. "James is the one from the masquerade. Sapnap is, or was, your fiance. Maybe he was a decendent of some sort? Strange considering sapnap is from the nether but that is just how the tides turn, isn't it?" He offered any thought that seemed have decent from the voices. He sighed, thinking about the sad reality. "It might be best not to lead him on if you dont remember them though. It'll hurt them a lot but it's better that way, isnt it? Less to lose that way."
"but I love him." Karl started stopping himself to make sure he meant what he said, instead of trailing off the fact he now knew indefinitely that Sapnap was his fiance, and not this James. "-I know I love him, more than anything." He looked up from his books, confused tears threatening to trail down his face, but he blinked them back. "but if you think that's the best, I'll do it." he nodded mentally weighing out if he should end it with sapnap and quackity, even if quackity hadn't been a large part of the conversation. He trusted techno's opinion. If it wasn't for Techno, he'd probably lose his head regardless if it was connected to his shoulders are not.
Techno cringed slightly at the others broken voice. Oh god, it suddenly got really loud. He noticed his watery eyes and a serge of pure panic ran through them. "Ok ok wait wait wait" He said suddenly, holding his hands up defensively. "So you do remember them. We can work with that. You remember you love them. That's what matters. That's what really matters. There's more then one solution to every problem guys." As he raked his brain for other solutions, he made a motion for Karl to come over to him. *He needs a hug.* That was one of the thousands of things being screamed through his head beside his own thoughts. "We could make a tape for you. We could make a tape that has everything important to you in it. That way everytime you come back, you know everything. We can get a video tape so no one can make unwanted changes. We can put on there your fiances, things about them, the book club, and everything else you need to know about yourself. You don't have to lose yourself if it would cause too much damage."
Karl, without a second of hesitation, took the hug Technoblade offered, but if he hadn't, he probably wouldn't be crying into the piglins shoulder. His shoulders tensed as he grabbed onto the werepig tightly keeping himself grounded, listening to techno's suggestion with a subtle nod; he cleared his throat prying himself from his current living paper weight. "a tape? I never thought of that." he admitted his voice steadying enough to push that emotional display under the rug for the time being, "I think we should try that." he nodded with a half hearted smile, yeah had his doubts, but juggling smudged ink and his already faulty memory. "but, what if, Sapnap, wants me to forget him? I'd be hurt if i were him. I was hurt, when he burnt my book, I think, that's what I wrote." Karl chuckled disheartedly letting out a long clearly held in breath and the tension pent up in his shoulders right along with it, "I don't even remember why I was so upset about it in the first place, no matter how hard I tried, I never got back to that chapter."
Technoblade wrapped their arms around him, letting him let out whatever he needed to let out. When karl started to pull away, he immediately lifted his heavy grip. He tried to over a smile to him when the human accepted the idea. While he didn't understand how love and all that stuff worked, he knew it was important. His nearly forced smile dropped when he was told the worries about Sapnap. "Karl, he doesn't want you to forget him. I am sure that is the last thing he wants. He is in so deep with you and Quackity, it's scary. He probably is hurt but he can get over it." He paused his little speech, closing his eyes slightly. For a moment, his form seemed unstable. "You work really hard on your books. The fact that he burned one, intentionally or not, is horrible. More then just you know that story right? I know I read the story before Sapnap was able to get his hands on it."
He wrapped his arms back around Techno, less in a seeking comfort manor like it previously had, more so in a thankful way nodding along with Techno's ending monologue, "...thank you Techno" Karl hummed with a chuckle "I wouldn't even know what day of the week it is if it wasn't for you." he hummed absently squeezing the piglin tightly, that wasn't even a hyperbole, it was called '*THURSDAY* book club, no exceptions' for a reason; "I needed this.-" he rambled off for a few minutes before shutting himself up with a purely karl laugh, "but this is book club not therapy huh? I'm sorry."
Techno sighed, nodding. He hugged the other back. The vibe on his side of the hug didn't change all that much. It was just weaker. When he got emotional like this, he always got weaker trying to keep his form up. It's not that he didn't trust karl in his human form but it would be impolite to excuse himself to change. "Of course. This is the best part of my week. But yeah it is book club. Can't talk about the book properly with bad thoughts on the mind." He muttered, chuckling slightly. Glancing down at the book in his lap, he was reminded of the real reason he was here. "You didn't forget too much of the book while you were out and about, did you?" He asked, trying to lift the mood in his own way.
"I kept a copy on me, no exceptions remember." Karl chimed returning to his comfortably curled up position in the chair across from Techno, flipping through his copy of the book with a small smile, "You can go change if you need to though Techno! i figure you'd need to by now, I know feelings aren't your thing. " the human noted. don't let the memory loss fool you, Technos mannerisms is something he had almost down to a T, written down in his dairy, at least, 5 different times. he was his best friend basically. he didn't want to forget him in the slightest.
Technoblade nodded. He respected the no exceptions rule and he was happy that Karl did the same. He choked on apparently air when Karl put the offer into the room. He was not aware that this was a thing that karl knew about. His signs of changing. It was just kinda rude that Karl knew of this. Over stepped some emotional boundaries. It was like that chick that didn't like that her boss knew her birthday and told him to unknow it. This was the same thing. Either way, the voices were over the moon with this development. "Karl, why do you have to be like this. Just very considerate. My heart isn't warmed at all" He muttered before getting up. He muttered to himself about how it must've been some play cause he didn't real the last foue pages or something while he made his way out the door and downstairs.
A few minutes later, much shorter pink haired version of technoblade appears from the stairs. He was still in his piglin white button up and now much oversized red cape. What he did change about his attire was his pants, exchanging the pig ones for some really his size. His scars are much more prominent now and his tusks are a good bit smaller. Their hair was messy and unkept like they just got out of bed but that's always how it was when he changed. They only put in the braids afterward. Maybe they would let karl brain their hair if he asked nicely.