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It was your average day in the arctic commune.
It was still somewhat early that morning. The sky was overcast in light gray clouds and it had been gently snowing since earlier that morning, covering the land below in a fresh layer of soft snow. The bees were already hard at work in the bee dome as they buzzed around, gathering pollen from the various flowers and bringing it back to their hives. of the dogs had awoken by now and were barking away from their kennel, awaiting their food, and the turtles were laying about on the warm sand of the turtle farm.
It was another, average, peaceful day in the Arctic.
It made Niki angry for some reason.
Granted, it's just one of those days where she just feels angry for no reason. The kind of anger that simmers underneath her skin, slowly building up no matter how hard she tries to it down. She was hoping that going for a walk through the snow biome would help her calm down, but the anger was too boiling hot today, and the cold just made her more irritated.
That's when she noticed where she had wandered to: Techno and Phil's home. She realized she wandered into the forest near their property and could somewhat see a bit of Techno's house through the trees. Her body must've brought her here subconsciously.
Maybe having some familiar company would do me some good, she thought to herself.
After a brief moment of just standing there, she finally starts walking towards the house. It would be nice to rest and warm up anyway. Even with her cloak she was freezing outside.
She walks through the wooden gate and makes her way across the snowy clearing and up the steps to the bridge that connects Phil and Techno's houses. She stands in front of Techno's door, about to knock when she sees a piece of paper stuck to it.
Out taking care of the animals. If you need me, I'll be near the turtle farm.
-Technoblade
Nice of him to leave a note, Niki thinks to herself. She wraps her brown cloak tighter around herself as she makes her way back down the steps and heads towards the turtle farm.
After just a few minutes of walking the turtle farm comes into view. In the distance, slowly growing bigger as she walks closer and closer, she could make out a pink-haired figure crouched down on the other side of the fence. Niki subconsciously brought a hand up to lightly run through her own shoulder-length pink hair, thinking back to when Techno helped her dye it.
"Hey, Techno," She says once she was close enough. He looks up to see her approach the fence and he gives her a polite nod.
"Ullo. Wasn't expecting you today," He points out.
Niki immediately feels bad which causes her anger to flare up again, at herself this time. She clenches her right hand into a fist before she quickly hid it behind her back.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I can come back another day."
Techno just shakes his head and flaps a hand at her. "No, it's no problem. Just an observation. Just let me finish up here and we can head inside together." He reassures her before he turns back to what he was doing.
Niki let out a quiet sigh as she feels her first unclench. It was fine. Everything was fine.
That's when she notices what he's doing. Techno was crouched down on the sand, carefully helping a little baby turtle make it's way to the water. Niki couldn't help but smile at the domestic scene Techno was in. There was something both amusing and adorable about seeing a hulking, terrifying man helping coax a tiny baby sea turtle to the water. It helped quell her anger just a bit.
Eventually, the baby turtle reaches the water and Techno stands up with a slight groan, dusting off his hands on his brown pants.
He turns to face her "Alright, we can head in. Sorry about that."
She smiles at him. "It's okay. That was very cute," she replies. Her anger flares up slightly at what Techno said. What could he possibly have to apologize about?? She once again quickly stamps it back down.
Techno hops over the fence and gestures for Niki to follow him, to which she does as they both head back to the house.
Niki looks over at Phil's house as they approach. "Is Phil home?"
"Nah, he went off to search for a certain enchanted book. He'll most likely be back later tonight." Techno explains.
Niki hums in response before they fall into a comfortable silence once again.
Being around Techno was still kind of weird for Niki. He's really become one of her best friends and has become comfortable around him, yet he somehow is still the source for both her comfortability and anger, with the anger mostly coming from the fact that she doesn't have to fight to be heard by him, that he takes the time to listen to her no matter what she says. It's like that with everyone in the Syndicate, but she notices it the most with Techno and she's not sure why. Perhaps because she admires him? She doesn't really know.
They reach the house and Techno opens the door for her, allowing her to walk in first before following in. Niki almost immediately melts at the wall of warmth she runs into as she walks into his house. Due to being a Piglin Hybrid, Techno's house is usually always warm, warmer you would really need it. But after walking around in the cold for a few hours, it felt perfect.
"Feel free to take a seat by the fire if you'd like," Techno says as he takes off his cloak to hang it up on the coat rack before slipping his boots off and placing them near the door. "Did you something to drink?"
"Just some tea would be nice," Niki replies before taking a seat in one of the arm chairs near the fireplace. Techno hums as he walks into the kitchen.
They just stay like that for a while, basking in the warmth and comfortable silence. The fire crackles and pops as Niki's body has almost completely thawed by now. The soft clattering and noises coming from the kitchen mix with the noises of the fire and the villagers downstairs, making the cabin truly feel lived in. Niki felt like she was actually relaxing a bit for the first time since waking up today.
After a few minutes, Techno returns carrying two steaming mugs of herbal tea, handing one of the mugs to Niki, who accepts with a quiet 'thank you' before Techno takes a seat in the arm chair next to her with his own mug.
Techno takes a sip before looking over at her. "So, what brings you all the way out here? Is there a specific reason or you just felt like it?"
Niki also takes a sip, much smaller than Techno's due to how hot it still was. "I was just on a walk this morning and found myself in the forest nearby. Decided I'd just come and visit for a bit."
Techno hums. "Fair enough. It's always nice whenever you visit. I feel like I never really see you outside of Syndicate meetings or gatherings, so it's nice to just sit and chat. I feel like we need to catch up, just the two of us."
Niki nods looking down at her hands. She knows what he's talking about. She'd rather not travel far from her underground city she's been working on. Usually, the only times she ever comes out is exactly for what Techno said; Syndicate meetings and gatherings. The anger starts to swell up again. So pathetic that I don't even hang out with my friends outside of meetings. What's wrong with me?
She mentally shakes her head, pushing those thoughts away for now.
"Yeah, just being busy is all."
"Doing what?"
She looks over at him and sees that he's giving her his full attention, genuinely interested. Of course he is. Why wouldn't he be?
"Uhm, just been working in an underground city. I'm not really sure why, I just feel like I need to build something," She explains. "I don't think I'll even invite anyone to come live in it once it's done. I just... I wanted to do something to take my mind off stuff."
Techno lightly nods. "I see. Makes sense. I'm sure it looks incredible, though. Do you think you'd show us once it's done?"
Niki take another sip of her mug and shrugs. "I'm not sure yet. I guess we'll see when the time comes."
Techno nods. "We'll see. No pressure if you don't want to."
They fall into another few minutes of silence, taking turns sipping their mugs and just enjoying each other's company. Niki takes to looking around Techno's house before her gaze fell onto Techno. Specifically, his arms. They were littered in scars of varying sizes, all along them. There were a few more on his face too, and some more that she most likely couldn't see.
It's not like she's never seen his scars before. They're pretty much always on display. But she's never really bothered to look closer at them. At how they don't seem to even bother him, like they're not there.
Niki shifts a little bit and looks down at her half empty mug. She doesn't have nearly the same amount of scars as Techno does, hardly anything to explain. But she does have a couple, one on her shoulder and a semi-big one on her left arm. Yet despite them having plenty of time to heal and are pretty easy to hide, there's something about them that she is ashamed of. Ashamed of who or what, she's not quite sure, but the feeling is there.
"What is wrong?" Techno's sudden voice causes her to jump a bit, her head whipping up to look over at him. She mentally curses herself. You know how good Techno is at reading people. What were you thinking? Of course he'd notice something is up!
She lets out a nervous chuckle. "I-it's nothing! It's stupid anyway."
Techno blinks. "If it's bothering you then it's not stupid."
Niki huffs and looks away for a moment before she lets her shoulders drop. There's no point in trying to hide anything from Techno. He isn't one to push if someone doesn't want to talk about something, but she doesn't really feel the need to withhold this from him of all people.
"It's just... you always have your scars out on display and it doesn't bother you. I just... wish it was the same for me. That's all." She explains quietly, pointedly avoiding his gaze. Her face felt a little hot, and her cheeks were pink from embarrassment. Despite knowing Techno, a small part of her expected some kind of mockery or teasing or berate her for feeling insecure about her meager amount of scars.
But none of that happened (obviously). There's a brief moment of silence before Techno speaks up.
"Well then, why don't we fix that?"
She looks over with a confused expression, unable to read his blank, casual expression.
Her eyebrows furrow slightly. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, why don't we try to change that? Let's find some way to make you more proud of your scars. Or at least hate them less."
Niki stares at him for a moment before letting out a light laugh of disbelief. "And how do you plan to do that?"
Techno thinks for a moment before his pointy ears twitch a little bit, his telltale sign that he got an idea.
"Wait here," He says before setting his mug on the coffee table and walks out of the room, only to come back a moment later with a long, somewhat flat box. He gestures for Niki to follow him to the table, to which she does, which is where she sees exactly what he was carrying.
A box of body crayons.
Niki wasn't sure exactly what they were called, but they'd basically allow someone to draw on their skin safely. She takes a seat next to Techno who takes the lid off of the box.
"What are those for?"
Techno looks at her. "Well, one way we could make you hate your scars less is to make them look pretty," He explains while pulling out a couple of different colors. "So, what would you like drawn? Anything works. That is, if you want to. You're allowed to say no."
Techno continues finding ways to completely stump and surprise Niki, just when she thought she knew everything about him (that's not true. She knows there's a lot she probably doesn't and never will know. But she still feel like she knows more than most people. Minus Phil, of course). But she just smiles gently and nods.
"Sure. Anything works."
She rolls up her sleeve and allows him to get to work as he gently starts drawing something over her scar. It didn't take long for her to realize that it was a flower, a Freesia to be specific.
"Why a Freesia flower specifically?" She asks curiously.
"Because," Techno begins, never taking his focus off of what he was doing. "A Freesia flower can stand for having survived something, and I feel like that fits you pretty well."
Niki's eyes widen slightly at the explanation.
Techno notices this and stops briefly, looking at her. "But, I can change it if you want."
Niki quickly shakes her head. "No! No, that's... it's fine. It's... perfect, honestly."
Techno smiles slightly before he gets back to work.
After about ten minutes, he finishes. Niki looks down at it in awe. It was really well done and pretty detailed. She never knew Techno was so good at drawing stuff like this.
She smiles brightly at him. "Thank you, Techno."
He shrugs. "No problem."
Niki glances back down at his arms and bites her lip for a moment before looking down at her hands in her lap.
"Uhm, if you want, I could do the same for you... if you'd like."
Techno stared at her for a brief second before nodding. "Yeah, that'd be nice."
Her nervousness immediately disappears as he slides the box over to her. "Any preference?"
He shakes his head. "Nah, do whatever you want."
Niki stares at his arms, thinking for a moment, before she picks up a crayon and begins to draw.
After what felt like forever, Niki finally pulls away to stare at her handy work.
"Done!" She declares proudly.
Techno looks down at his arms and is amazed by what he sees. His arms are completely covered in a floral pattern, with all of the different flowers being connected by flowing vines. He could see Daffodils, some Thistle, some Sunflowers, A couple of Gladiolus, and some Astrantia.
Niki looks at him expectantly, nervously rubbing her hands together.
"So...? What do you think?"
Techno stares at his arms for a moment longer before looking up at Niki with a soft smile.
"It's beautiful. Thank you, Niki."
Niki feels herself beam brightly at the praise. Some of her best work, she'd say.
Techno looks back down at his arms. "We should get these turned into tattoos."
Niki bursts out laughing, but notices his serious expression once she calms down.
"Oh, you're serious."
"One hundred percent."
-
"Phil, we decided to get matching tattoos!" Techno exclaims as the older man just barely walks through the door.
Phil stares at the two of them in confusion.
"Techno, I was only gone for a day. What-"