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Tubbo had said winter was coming and he wouldn’t be able to make it back to Pogtopia, but Techno didn’t know it would be so… cold.
And realistically, he knew the Overworld’s winters were fearsome, especially compared to the Nether’s own warm winter weather. Hell, he had even experienced the Arctic weather! Now that was freezing…
But in the damp caves of Pogtopia, Techno felt the chill even underneath his layers of fur and wool. It was something about the underground caverns that just… seemed to seep the heat out of even the most well-insulated areas.
He tried to stop his teeth from chittering in the low torch-light, hands huddled over one of the furnaces in their makeshift kitchen. A batch of potatoes sat inside, roasting under his watchful eye. Luckily, he had managed to save the current crop under growth lights and wool blankets.
Thundering footsteps sounded out from somewhere above him, shortly followed by a scream and thud. Techno had to suppress a sigh; no doubt, one of the others had fallen down the stairs. Again.
He blamed it on the lack of railings.
“I’m okay–! Ooh,” Tommy came up from behind him, attempting to peek over his shoulder, “Are those your world-famous baked poh-tah-toes, big man?”
Techno rolled his eyes, “Get your own, you stole the last batch and don’t think I didn’t notice. Your subtlety needs to be worked on.”
“Ehhh, you know what they say, poh-tay-to, poh-tah-to. Doesn’t really matter to me, I don’t need subtlety.” He flapped his hand around aimlessly before his face suddenly brightened into a wide grin, showing off the blue bands in his braces, “Hey, I’ve actually got something to show you, d’you know if Wil is around?”
“He’s brooding in his corner about something, I think it’s better if we let him be for now.” He refused to mention Wilbur’s ramblings about traitors. If he did, Tommy would probably spend the rest of the day huddled up to Wilbur’s door.
“Are you sure?” His brows furrowed.
“Yeah, I’m sure. Anyways, you said you wanted to show me something?”
He nodded and dipped his head, scrambling to look through his inventory. After a few seconds of scrambling around, he seemed to find what he was looking for. Tommy reached into the air before him, pulling out a long ‘sheet’ of stripped logs tied together with what appeared to be spider’s string.
As Techno looked at… whatever the thing was, he realized what it was. Or rather, what it appeared to resemble, because honestly, Tommy’s craftsmanship was more than shoddy.
It was a sled.
“You do know it’s too cold for that, right?” He raised an eyebrow, mouth flat.
“Pish-posh, you’ve got, like, fifteen layers on. You’ll be alright, now come on!”
Techno planted his shoes against the floor, as if attempting to meld into the cold stone, “Nuh-uh, you are not getting me on that death trap. No. Way.”
Pulling on his sleeve, the other puffed his cheeks out, “You never want to do anything with me! It’s always mimimi, I’m Technoblade and I want to grow potatoes and be a nerd mimimi !”
He rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Whatever you’re doing isn’t going to work.”
“Au contraire, my dear Blade! I’ve got help with me!”
As if on cue, two pairs of hands grabbed his shoulders. Out of instinct, he kicked behind him and felt one pair fall as a loud groan sounded out.
Looking behind himself, he found Tubbo jumping on one leg, as he held his other shin and screeched. Beside him was Fundy, who tried (and failed) to contain his laughter.
It seemed he had no choice but to follow the three idiots up the icy stairs. It was only out of a sense of guilt, of course. You don’t kick your fellow comrade in the leg without some repercussions.
And if you asked Techno, he would not say that Tubbo was the scariest of the trio. But… he might have thought about it. A little bit.
And as they filed through the little oak door leading to the outside door, Techno was hit in the face with a wave of cold air. He suddenly reconsidered the merits of going back inside.
Hmm….
Nope, Tubbo was too scary for that. He had too many connections. And he knew about the… Bad incident.
So it seemed Techno was stuck watching three juveniles hurtle themselves off an icy hill. Fun.
And I’m pretty much no time at all, he found himself staring up at their first snow-covered hill of the day.
Perhaps Phil’s wife was looking down on him with favor. It seemed that despite the trio’s best intentions, they all forgot about him as soon as they crested the mountain.
He sat himself down on the only snow-cleared boulder on the top, watching half-heartedly on their antics. He hadn’t been dragged into any of their games, so he distracted himself with messages on his comm.
But then a shadow fell over his screen. He looked up.
The sled (which looked considerably worse in the daylight) was proudly presented to Technoblade, by none other than Tommy himself. He gestured at the bottom of the hill, where the other two stood, yelling encouragement.
“I think it’s your turn, big man!”
He snorted, “What makes you think that?”
Tommy shrugged half-heartedly, “We’ve all got a turn, and you looked all lonely and shit over here, so…”
He had to stop another shiver, “I’ll pass on it, thanks. It’s too cold for me.”
“C’mon! The adrenaline will warm you up, it’s not even that cold!”
“Yeah, yeah. Of course you’d think that, Tommy.” He rolled his eyes, but still stood up with a small creak in his knees. He held out his hand for the sled. Techno knew it would be a losing war anyways, Tommy always seemed to know how to manipulate people to do his bidding.
Seemingly pleased, the other handed him the rope and Techno begrudgingly trudged towards the edge of the snow hill.
He gingerly sat down on the sled and gripped the rope tightly in both hands. He took a deep breath, getting ready to push off…
When hands suddenly pushed at his back and he felt himself fly.
The world stopped for a moment as his stomach fluttered, and the sky seemed boundless before his eyes.
And then the sled hit the ground and he was sent hurtling through a rocky, slick path. He involuntarily screeched, tightening his grip on the reins.
Finally, finally, his sled hit the last bump and as he soared, he saw the horizon.