Worlds Apart (Techza)

#9~Bonding Time~

"I enjoy building, a lot. I actually built the houses my friends and I live in," I tell the piglin.

the two of us are seated under a lone crimson tree still near the portal. Somehow the leaves and vines are blocking the heat, therefore making it a bit easier to bear, but not by much.

"I also love to explore, but not ever alone if I can avoid it." I pause to think before continuing, "There's really not much to say about what I like, since I mostly do whatever my friends are doing." I shrug and glance over to Techno.

"You guys are really close, huh?" His peaceful expression wavers slightly, causing me to wonder what he's thinking about.

"Mhm. What about you, Techno?" I ask and rest my head against the trunk of the tree, twirling a weeping vine around my finger.

I spent a lot of time delving deep into that journey to soak in as much information as I could. At this point, I've memorized everything there is to know about the crimson forest, along with another called the, "warped forest." Apparently, it takes on a blue colour scheme, but otherwise is pratically identical with the forest type I'm more familiar with.

"I like axes, and cutting things with axes," Technoblade responds with a grin. I sweatdrop and subtly scooch an inch or so away from him. He catches my movement and only grins wider.

"Anything else?"

"Hmm..." Techno's face wrinkles as he tries hard to think. I sigh and wait. When I grow impatient and bored, I hesitantly pat his shoulder. The touch snaps the hybrid from his thoughts and a dark pink dusts his cheeks.

"S-sorry, mate," I apologize, believing to have agitated him. "I just thought, if you'd like to go for a walk or something? Y'know, a change of scenery. With you near me, I'm sure I won't have a problem with any troublesome mobs." That truth sinks in and eases my mind. I assume Technoblade is strong, so I shouldn't have to worry about much.

He tilts his head, but nods and stands up. A hand reaches down to me, and I grab it without a second thought. Techno pulls me up beside him.

"Alright, I guess I'll let you lead the way! Anywhere is fine." I smile up at him - me being a head shorter and all. He slightly lowers his head and his eyes wander away from mine in a shy manner. I giggle and follow beside him once he starts forward.

The piglin walks in the direction of the soul sand valley. Blue flames light our path downhill, as well as tall bony structures sticking up from the whispering blocks. It's definitely the creepiest part of the Nether, and a chill rushes down my spine.

The two of us talk about a lot of interesting things. When I say "us," I mean mostly me. I tell him all about my friends, my home, my adventures. I talk about the struggle we had in the Nether, but stop halfway through when I realize he was there for all of that. Techno just smiles and nods the whole time, seemingly intrigued.

I then remember something, and I stop my rant about Tommy blowing up one of my builds that one time.

I quickly pull out the clock from my inventory and check to make sure I still have time. Thankfully, it's only an hour or so past midnight in the Overworld.

"Sounds like you've got your hands full," Techno chuckles, speaking up after a while of silence and small talk.

"Yeah..." I sigh.

After a couple minutes, we come to a second, lower layer of soul sand that partly juts out over the chasm. Many clumps of land defy gravity by floating nearby this layer of soul sand. It almost seems to make a stairway down to the lava river.

"Lets go over to those chunks of land! It looks interesting." I point it out. Techno nods and we change course to north, then northeast.

I jump across a gap that was wider than I anticipated and land hard on the edge of the closest chunk, with half my body dangling. I scramble fully on top and wipe my brow tiredly. My piglin-hybrid companion joins me shortly with a quick and easy leap.