Fallen Towers, Silent Ruins | Dream Smp

8

While Techno set up a fire in the middle of the courtyard, Rose wandered around. She peeked inside the completed puzzles and made multiple glances towards the next one. The girl told herself that she would do better in the next puzzle. She could feel it.

"Hey, come over here," the pigman called. Rose turned and looked at him. He had two sticks in his hand, and there was a chunk of red meat at the end of them.

"When did you find time to hunt?" She asked in confusion as she walked over. Rose never saw him leave the courtyard, and there certainly were no animals within it.

"From last night," he explained, handing her one of them, "I wrapped it in leaves and put it in my backpack. I've still got enough left over for about three more meals."

Rose cautiously sniffed the meat. Steak. Well, at least it wasn't pork. Now that she thought of it, the question pushed at the back of her mind. Normally, Rose would have already asked the question out loud, but for once she held her tongue. It felt well past rude to ask.

Techno was holding his stick over the fire. Rose copied him as well as she could, and the two sat in silence for a while. At one point, he flipped it around, so the girl did as well. The air around them was cool, and Rose could feel the wind licking at her skin and goosebumps rising.

"So what did you find at the end of the maze?"

"Just a room," the male shrugged, "nothing special. There was a box, and when I opened it, there was nothing inside."

"That's cheeky," Rose huffed, "giving you false hope, they are. If it was me who found the box, I would've thrown it across the room."

A smile tugged at his lips. "Patience is a virtue, you know."

"Not one that I possess," she retorted.

"You would think that patience was necessary in order to be an adventurer," Techno replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rose pulled her mouth into a thin line.

"Well haven't you ever found a treasure and it was nothing like you thought it would be? Or maybe it just didn't exist at all?"

"Of course," she snapped, "doesn't mean I like it, though. What is wrong with you? Why do you keep acting like you're so much better than me?"

Shit. She really fucked up now.

Techno looked at her for a few moments. His eyes were wide in shock. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but then closed it again without a word. He slowly turned his head and stared into the distance. He seemed to be deep in thought.

"I—I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." Rose bit her lip and looked towards him. He didn't say anything—didn't even give recognition that he heard her words.

The scent of the meat was strong as it cooked. It wafted up with the swirls of smoke from the fire and circled round their heads like a wreath. Once the meat was done cooking, the two of them ate in silence. Rose kept glancing over at the pigman, but he never looked back at her.

"The food is good. You'll have to show me where to hunt sometime." She was trying extremely hard to initiate conversation again. She felt awful, as the male had been so nice to her. He shared his camp, his food, and was even willing to share his success. And what did she do?

Rose pulled out her canteen and took a long sip of the water. After she set it down again, the girl glanced at Techno. It was like he was pretending that she wasn't even there. Techno most likely wasn't trying to be rude—although that's something she would do. He probably was just thinking.

This was the first time in awhile that she fucked up this bad.

"So, how did you start adventuring?"

No response.

Rose frowned. "Well, I started three years ago. I had always loved the idea of being an adventurer since I was really young. I would dress up kind of like how I dress now and then go into the forest behind my house. I would spend hours there. I'd climb trees, pretend to fight monsters, discover imaginary treasures—stuff like that."

She paused for a moment and glanced over at Techno again. He stretched his legs out and leaned back against the tree behind him. He still did not look towards her, instead looking at the fire.

"Then a lot of—"

"I needed to leave. I was having nightmares every time I closed my eyes. I needed to leave that place because of what happened."

Rose blinked in surprise and stared at the male. His eyes did not leave the crackling flames of the fire between them. He didn't say anything else. He didn't elaborate. Suddenly, it occured to the girl that the old bard must have been right—Techno had as much of a dark past as she did.

She thought about his words. The bard told her to try looking into Techno's eyes. She found herself shifting her focus from his facial expression to his eyes. They were bright red and unlike anything Rose had ever seen. It almost seemed like little things were swirling within the sea of red.

"We should get to the next puzzle," Techno said flatly. He stood up and rummaged through his bag for a canteen. He popped off the cap and poured the water over the fire. It sizzled and turned to smoke, swirling up into the air.

As he stamped out the remaining embers of the fire, Rose stood up and took a swig from her own canteen. Then, she attached it to the side of her backpack and swung the strap over her shoulder. The girl watched the pigman pack up his supplies before he turned to her again.

"Number five, then?" She asked awkwardly.

The man hummed in response. Rose nodded slowly, tucking her hands into her pockets. She let him guide the way to the next puzzle, and the two of them paused outside the doorway. For the first time since her mistake, Techno met her eyes.

"I'm not mad at you," he stated calmly, "it's just that you made me think about some things that I would rather have forgotten. Though—I apologize, too. I should not have given you the perception that I was upset."

"It's okay," Rose replied, "don't apologize. It was my mistake. We should try to work together instead, yeah?"

Techno smiled and nodded. "Sounds good."

Rose walked through the doorway. As she walked down the dark passage, her mind quickly wandered back to Techno's words. About how he became a wandering adventurer because he needed to leave his home.

She was curious about what happened—what caused him to need to leave. It was just natural for her to desperately want to know these kinds of things. However, in this regard, Rose knew better than to ask. Because she understood.

Because she hadn't admitted it to him, but her reason was quite similar. She had needed to leave, too. She had needed to escape.

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A/n - new chapter! :) it was meant to be published yesterday lol, but I didn't have time. How are you doing? You better be taking care of yourself 👀
Love y'all <3
~Echo