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Techno was good with animals. They seemed to like him and tended to follow him around. He may or may not share his living room with a polar bear that had shown up on his front lawn and refused to leave. And he may or may not have several dozen animals chillin at his place at all times. Chat liked to tease him about it. Techno couldn't say he minded though, not really. He liked animals - they were loyal and made for good allies as well as good company.
As it turned out, he and his fellow prisoner were very similar in that regard. Dream had insisted on taking a break from digging their tunnel and so they had spent the last hour - according to the voices, anyway, there wasn't exactly any way to tell from inside this box - talking about animals and their encounters with them.
Dream was just telling him about the time a Ghast had apparently helped him get out of danger when it happened. "It" being the appearance of a small, green-blue butterfly. They both stared at it. It had just casually flown out of the lava and into their cell. Heh?
They watched as it fluttered about for a few moments, almost confused, before flying right toward where Dream was sitting on the cell floor, hugging his legs. It landed straight on his knee. Dream stared at it. Techno laughed.
When he had stopped laughing and convinced Chat to chill as well, Dream was still staring at the butterfly. He looked like he was about to tear up . Techno did not sign up for this. As good as he was with animals, he really didn't know much of how to deal with people.
In an effort to prevent Dream from crying about a butterfly like a nerd, he said, "Yoo? Dream. Dream I think we summoned a fire proof butterfly. Let's gooo, even lava can't stop us! Our combined animal skills are just too great."
That thankfully did seem to get Dream's attention, at least somewhat. His eyes never left the butterfly, but he did speak. Techno was gonna count that as a victory.
"I think it just drank some fire res, look at it", he said.
Techno did and said, "Huh, i think you're right. Sam must've dropped some, L. Still, maybe we could get it to carry a message for us. Or lead more butterflies here. Yo, we could have a butterfly army."
This was, he had to admit, not the most intimidating of concepts. Chat was making fun of it already. But even they would have to admit that seeing Sam defeated by a bunch of small butterflies would be pretty funny. Before he had a chance to argue this point with them, his attention was brought back to Dream, who had started talking again.
"Actually, I think it could deliver a message, maybe? Well, kinda? It's just I've, that is, well anyway, if we can get it out again before the potion wears off it could probably help us. We could get out! Techno, we could actually get out! I'll just, hold on, Techno, give me a book!", Dream said excitedly, finally taking his eyes off the butterfly for a moment to look over at him.
Techno shrugged and went to grab a blank book and a pen from their chest. As he took it over to where Dream had already returned to staring intently at the butterfly, he did feel the need to mention that paper was not, in fact, fireproof. Dream didn't seem to think this was an obstacle. Techno didn't bother to argue. Let him have his fun, he supposed, the guy could probably use it.
He watched as Dream scribbled something on a piece of paper, showed it to the butterfly and then, instead of sending the creature off with it or something, started to very earnestly explain things to it . Occasionally he would tap a part of the paper or add more scribbling to it. The butterfly just continued to chill on his knee, unimpressed.
Techno listened to him talk with mild interest, only eventually disrupting Dream's attempt at becoming a Disney Princess to remind him that they were on a bit of a time crunch here. He didn't know how long potion effects would actually take to wear off on an animal this small, but it probably wasn't that long. Better to get it out sooner than later. Dream just nodded in response, not even bothering to stop in his explaining. Rude.
They did manage to get the butterfly out of the cell in time though, in the end. Hopefully in time for it to make it to the other side of the lava, too. Techno wasn't entirely convinced of Dream's ability to emulate Snow White, but who knew? After all, it wouldn't be the first time he'd unexpectedly befriended a main character, and Dream did share his looks with a god. It was worth a shot, anyway, as far as he was concerned. The voices seemed somewhat split on the matter though.
While Techno silently argued about the likelihood of a butterfly rescue troop with them, Dream quickly threw the paper into the lava and then went on to stand right in front of it, staring after the butterfly.
Time passed. Nothing happened. Dream kept staring. Techno sat down on the chest and proceeded to be bored. He had had a whole argument with the voices about the viability of weaponised bread before Dream even sat down. He was still staring into the lava though. It was kinda concerning.
"Bro, stop staring at the lava. You'll ruin our epic escape by falling over random blocks cause your retinas are just gonna be absolutely destroyed . People will make fun of me, Dream.", he told him after watching him for a few more moments.
"That doesn't even - whatever. Anyway, I won't, I mean, I've stared into lava way longer than this. It's fine ." Dream just insisted, pointedly continuing to stare.
Nothing much happened for about a day, according to Chat's otherworldly timekeeping skills. Techno did get Dream to stop staring eventually, mainly by throwing small balls of paper at him until he turned around to complain and throw some of the paper back with questionable accuracy. Which seemed to have broken whatever spell had come over him.
They hadn't done much after that, besides eating potatoes that Techno had haphazardly baked by the lava and occasionally having pretty lighthearted conversations. Well, and ringing the bell of course, although Dream still stubbornly refused to go along with that bit.
Techno wondered how long it would take for butterflies to form a rescue troop and figure out buttons. Probably a while. According to Dream they lost most of their usefulness when they weren't around him, though he also insisted that giving them an image would help in that regard. Techno had decided not to question this too much, figuring it probably wasn't any more unreasonable than Phil's crow based messaging system. Or his own inexplicable ability to successfully cooperate with just about any animal that came his way.
However competent or likely Dream's butterfly troops may be, though, he really did hope they wouldn't take too long, because Dream was getting more and more restless by the hour. Efforts to get him to chill were becoming increasingly difficult.
Currently Techno was watching him pace up and down the cell from where he was sitting against the wall, silently arguing with Chat on how best to distract him this time. Not that they were being particularly helpful about it. He somehow doubted throwing water at him or tackling him were what he should be going with - for now, anyway.
"Bro, if you keep running like that you won't have any energy left for escaping. The door's gonna open and you'll just be passed out from exhaustion or something. I know we're kinda banking on you being a Disney Princess here, dude, but I don't think Sleeping Beauty is what we should be going for." was what he eventually settled on telling Dream instead.
Dream turned his head to glare at him and roll his eyes. He did stop pacing though, at least for the moment.
"We have, you're su -", Dream started, but whatever lame insult he'd planned on saying never materialized, being replaced by a sudden and excited, "Techno, look!"
Techno did. He watched with only very mild surprise as a butterfly fluttered into the cell and towards Dream. It looked about the same as the first one - for all he knew it was. Either way, it landed on Dream's head.
Well, it looked like the butterfly escape troop was a go, then. Techno got up and strolled over to where Dream was already standing by the lava, watching some more butterflies appear from it. They all looked pretty much the same as far as Techno could tell, with the important difference that these ones were collectively struggling to carry a potion bottle.
Dream eagerly took the potion bottle from the butterflies, all of which immediately went to chill on his head or shoulders with the first one. His roommate didn't seem to mind. Techno watched in mild amusement as the world's most disheveled Disney Princess struggled to open a bottle.
He was about to offer his help when Dream managed to get the cork out. With his teeth. Gross. Before he could say something about it though, Dream spoke up.
"They did it! Techno, they did it! We can get out! There isn't, that is, they could only carry the one bottle I think. But we, it's not, we should get past the lava with half, I think. Techno, we'll actually get out!" he said, his voice shrill with excitement.
"Uh, are you actually sure about us getting past, cause not gonna lie, I'd rather not die to some lava today. Would be pretty cringe." Techno questioned, just in case.
Dream just nodded, already drinking. Well then. He handed the half empty bottle to Techno a moment later before quickly disappearing into the lava. Techno followed him a few seconds later, bottle still in hand. He'd complain about germs, but eh, priorities. Anyway, it was hard to worry about something as miniscule as that between the whole active escape thing to focus on and the several thousand voices loudly cheering or calling for Sam's blood in his head.
They did, in fact, reach the other side of the lava in time, just about. Luckily the entrance room had been empty - would have been pretty cringe to get out of the cell just to immediately be killed by some nerd in Netherite armour. Now just to actually make it out of the building.
He followed Dream out of the cell entrance and towards the staircase, keeping an eye out for Sam as he did. Dream led them into a small passageway that Techno could've sworn hadn't been there when he'd last seen this place. His confusion about this matter was quickly exchanged for amusement as he spotted a handful of familiar looking butterflies with a piece of rope casually chilling on a lever, waiting for them. Absent-mindedly, he noted them flying off and toward Dream as they went past.
They ran as fast as they could manage through the narrow corridors, Dream leading the way and Techno constantly on the lookout for trouble, until they reached another, unfamiliar room open to them thanks to a final couple of butterflies. The room was probably meant for the guards, Techno thought. More importantly, though, it held an Enderchest. Let's goo!
Dream was almost at the enderchest, Techno following close behind, when they were spotted. Behind them, blocking what Techno assumed was the room's main entrance, was Sam. In full Netherite armor, already getting his crossbow ready. He immediately started yelling at them, the confusion clear in his voice probably the only thing keeping him from shooting them already. Techno doubted that would last.
Quickly, he weighed out their options. He did not like the conclusion he was coming to. It was too risky for his liking. But then, he didn't exactly have much of a choice, did he? If he got owned because he played it too safe now, he'd never hear the end of it.
Bracing himself, he turned fully towards Sam and said, as cheerfully as he could manage, "Sam! Hey! Gotta say, kinda unimpressed with your prison here. Not even remotely as hard to get out of as advertised. Pretty big L there, mate."
Sam pointed the crossbow at him, still too confused to do much besides demand to know how they had gotten out. And, in the process, focusing all his attention on Techno. And away from Dream, who was hopefully using the distraction to get himself armed. Quickly.
Very quickly, because Sam was already remembering the crossbow he was holding. Techno just about managed to dodge the first short, which tore through his cape and hit the wall behind him and next to Dream. Risking a moment's glance at his friend, Techno determined him to be fine and about half dressed in Netherite. Good.
Before Sam could focus his attention on this fact, he brought the spotlight back on himself by making fun of Sam's embarrassingly terrible aim. Perhaps to spite him, the next shot didn't quite miss, actually tearing through the fabric of his shirt, badly scratching his shoulder and arm. Fortunately the cut, while deep, seemed not to have hit anything vital. Less fortunately, his efforts to get out of the way had gotten him into a pretty awkward, cornered position.
"Uh, Dream?", he called as Sam reloaded, and didn't even get to add "a little help over here", before Dream was yelling over to get Sam's attention. He half-turned away from Techno for a moment. Techno watched as Dream, who had managed to get into a full set of armor himself, pointed a sword at Sam. Not exactly ideal, bringing a sword to a bowfight, but eh. Dream was a good fighter, he'd manage.
Techno waited just long enough to be sure that Sam was thoroughly distracted to make his move, dodging out of his corner and getting behind Sam. Another quick look told him that Dream had managed to advance toward Sam enough to apparently force him to abandon his crossbow in favor of a sword. Nice. Techno took that as his cue to dash for the enderchest.
He took another look at the fight behind him upon reaching the enderchest, just in case. And just in time to see Dream, who seemed to be on the defense and from the looks of it had taken a couple hits already, urgently order his butterflies to launch an attack on Sam. Another distraction. Smart.
The resulting cursing was suboptimal, as far as Techno was concerned, but it was kinda worth the indeed exceptionally funny sight of a heavily armed guy in full Netherite attempting to fight butterflies. From the look of it, the butterflies were winning, too. L. Between them and Dream, Techno figured it was safe to turn his attention to the chest.
By the time he was armed and armored, Dream and his butterfly minions had just about managed to push Sam into a corner. The guy probably had enderpearls though, so best to finish this quickly.
Techno grabbed his newly reaquired trident and shot it at the Warden while his attention was still on Dream. It pinned him to the wall, probably giving him a concussion in the process and definitely causing the butterflies to disperse. Unfortunately it didn't quite knock him out, though.
They probably should just knock him out, Techno figured, much to the voices general disapproval. Dream seemed to agree with him though. Techno left him the honor of actually doing so, while Techno kept an eye out for potential other guards. This garnered further general disapproval from the voices, but Techno figured it was only fair, what with him having been stuck here for much longer, not to mention the whole torture thing. Anyway, he could always come back and kill the guy later, ideally while also blowing this prison to smithereens. That plan, at least, was met with enthusiastic approval.
They made it out of the prison without further interruption, the other guards having apparently been off duty. For a moment, they just stood in the shadow of the prison, catching their breath and drinking healing potions. They watched as most of the butterflies dispersed, presumably going off to do whatever it was they usually did. A couple of them stayed on Dream's helmet though, apparently happy with their new mobile vantage place.
"Gotta say dude, you make a pretty decent Disney Princess," Techno decided to break the silence.
"Shut up, idiot," Dream replied with very little conviction. "I can't belive we're actually out.", he added after a moment.
Techno just nodded, then hesitated for a moment before saying, "Fun as chilling here is, I kinda gotta go check on things. I mean, you can come if you like. The offer for crashing at my place still goes, although you'd probably have to share the living room with Steve. Might be a pretty good call, now that you're homeless again."
Dream rolled his eyes at that last remark, but didn't argue. Instead, he just shook his head and told him, "Nah, I'm, I've got to check on some things too. But, uh. Thanks. I might come by some time, I guess? I mean, you know, if I need a good ally or such."
It was Techno's turn to roll his eyes at that. They stood in silence for just another moment, before Dream somewhat awkwardly noted that they should probably get going before Sam woke up and told everyone they'd bailed. Techno just nodded.
A moment later, Dream was already off, green-blue butterflies still clinging to his helmet, shouting a last thanks and bye as he left. Techno looked after him for a moment, not even bothering to hide his laughter at the scene as he called a goodbye and see ya, nerd in return.
Then he headed off as well. It was high time to go home.