The first time you met Techno was a strange experience. Strange, but not unwelcome.

It was casual in a way-

As casual as accidentally picking a fight could be.

A fight in the Nether no less.

You despise the nether.

You despise the nether so unreasonably much. But, you were taking a day for yourself to try and get over your own hatred of it- so of course you were jumpier then usual.

And of course techno was in the Nether too-

And of course he took that day to approach you for whatever reason.

He barely got out a hello- when you whipped around and accidentally punched him in the stomach-

It didn't hurt him with the armor he had on- but he reacted to your attack by instinct, exactly the same way you had-

His sword lashed out and nearly cut into your head, so you dodged, freaking out and trying to punch him again- to which he dodged-

Overall it was an unnecessary battle- one blow after another- dodging and attacking- and no real sense of aggression.

Just- reflexes.

So when your punch hits him hard enough for him to stumble, you kick your leg out and sweep him off his feet. Again, all instincts. His mask got loosened enough to get shot flying in a different direction. His body wasn't as lucky though.

Right off the cliff he went.

Dread dropped in your stomach, and you flung your arm out to catch him, latching onto the wrist cuff of his armor.

Your body nearly got dragged off the edge with his weight, but you held firm, looking at him with wide eyes.

His expression was mainly confusion- tiredness worming its way in there somehow. His lips were pulled into a tight line, tusks and other unhuman attributes nearly highlighted.

How he could remain so calm was outstanding- the sudden dropping or imminent threat of lava had to of done something for him, but he kept this tired look on his face, throwing his free hand up to grab onto the closest thing to him, which was your wrist.

"I don't think we've met before." You utter out, voice still shaking from the initial scare, the harsh glow of the lava pool below silhouetted his still hanging body.

"No. We haven't been acquainted." He dead panned back, firmly glancing at the lava pool below him before drilling his red eyes directly into your own, "But I must say- if I'm being completely honest here- this is absolutely the best time to make greetings."

The dry humor made you laugh. For someone this close to being dropped off the edge, he had enough mental power to crack a joke,

"Definitely-" you responded, "there is no better time then now- while you are being perilously held above a literal melting pot."

A smile cracked onto his face, infinitely small compared to his very bored and tired eyes, but a smile nonetheless.

"So how should I pull you up?" You ask.

He glanced around again, calmly taking in the situation.

"You could just...y'know... pull me up?" He offers.

To which you make a nervous face, "No- I do not have enough strength to lift someone as heavy as you."

"What are you... implying...?"

A nervous titter came from your mouth as you rushed to explain yourself, "NO- no no no- don't get the wrong impression- I'm just-" You slip forward a bit, causing both Techno's and your own hands to clench a bit harder to each other, "From a physical standpoint, you're like ninty-five percent muscle- Did you know that muscle weighs more then fat???"

He laughed, again, despite the situation- and despite the fact that he was only in diamond armor. Which wasn't exactly lava proof, even if it helped..

"Not to mention the fact that your in a full set of diamond armor- I don't even wanna think about how heavy that is-" You drop the tid bit in before the both of you go silent, still in a standstill of trying to figure out how to pull him up.

Techno coughed a bit, still glancing around, "...If I can get a hand onto a good grabbing spot, I can probably pull myself back up."

At this point any idea was better then no idea, so you nodded, "Yes, yes- alright- um- what does a good ledge look like?"

Techno already had his eyes locked on a spot, tilting his head in its direction, "To your left, pull me over as much as you can."

Nodding, you shifted, nearly tumbling straight into the lava pool as you wiggled closer to the left side of the ledge.

"On the count of three." You spoke, clenching your muscles in anticipation, "One-"

Techno focused in on the spot, "Two-" You grabbed harder onto the cuff of his armor, skin nearly splitting with the effort.

"Three."

You threw yourself backwards, using all your weight to give him enough leverage to claw his way up.

Which he did get his arm in there, lifting a good portion of his weight onto the netherack.

You rushed up, tugging the rest of him back onto safe ground before throwing yourself onto your knees with a pant.

"...Fuck..." you huffed, closing your eyes and letting the heat of the ground below you swirl through your knees.

Techno was already standing, calmly shuffling around.. the telltale metal click told you he found his mask..

His footsteps trailed in your direction, looking down at you with his pressumably mask covered face.

You peered a single eye open.

Yup.

Mask.

You glanced at him and muttered out a, "Why was that so hard..."

He huffed a laugh, "You're strange." was all he said back, standing above you with an air of confusion.

The way his arm was tensed made you think he was debating something, but you couldn't tell for sure.

Opening both eyes, you offered the side of the ledge a glance, before sighing and muttering a, "Sorry about that whole- pushing you off the ledge thing..."

He didn't say anything in response, which egged you into rambling just a little bit more, "The nether kinda puts me on edge- and you coming up behind me gave me a jump scare..."

You finally looked back at him, he hadn't moved from his position above you, and you still hadn't tried to stand up.

"Why were you coming over here to begin with?" You ask. Truly, you were curious as to why techno fucking blade was here. The dude that came here and immediately dominated everyone who battled him.

He took another moment of silence, and from your position on the ground you saw his lips tighten into a line.

"Believe it or not- I came to say hello." A shake of his pink hair covered head,

"And... hypothetically- if Wilbur... and this is completely hypothetical..." He put his hands up in a surrender pose,  "Mentioned something about talking to a new recruit- wouldn't you decide to see if this new recruit could or could not pose as a threat..??"

"Wilbur? You mean the dude that got- like exiled??"

Techno shot you an unreadable expression, "I'm suddenly regretting the information I just implied to you." He turned to leave, "Goodbye."

A laugh escaped your throat and you shot a hand out in his direction despite the fact that you refused to get off the ground, "Noo- wait wait- I promise I'm a very neutral person."

He stopped walking, giving an almost sardonic huff of air, before turning back around to give you a stare.

"If Wilbur wanted to talk to me- its probably along the lines of getting more allies, right?"

He gave you a few seconds to look at his mask before a grumbled, "Perhaps..." exited his lips.

"Haha- alright- that's what I suspected."

"Is that a good or bad laugh...? Does your laugh mean your swayed immensely to one side or the other?" His gravely voice and dry tone just made you laugh again.

"Trust me, that was a very neutral laugh. You're just good at humor, and I lack social interaction."

He chuckled at that, "You're very strange if my sense of humor is funny."

"Why's that?" You ask raising an eyebrow.

He tilted his head at you, mask tilted along with it, giving him a very ghoulish like stare, "I mean... - my humor consists of 'I'm dead and lonely inside' and 'death, murder, kill'."

"Annnd..?" You raise an eyebrow.

He laughed, and left that conversation unspoken, instead looking at you with a small smile. The air of contemplation returned, and his right arm clenched again, before he sighed.

Whatever he was thinking about seemed to solve in his head, and his arm extended out to you.

You almost didn't know why for a second, before you remembered, oh yeah. Sitting on the ground right now.

It wasn't like he was just that unnaturally tall.

You grabbed his hand, letting him pull you up.

That led to you being face to face with his chest.

Okay. Yes, he was pretty unnaturally tall- you take what you last thought about back.

You glance upwards.

And broad. Shoulders-

Fuck.

He looked like he could kill you if he punched you too hard.

With a start, you realized you were still holding his hand.

His much larger hands.

The thick gloves he had on were rough against your bare palm, and almost gently, you took your hand out of his.

A cough escaped you, an attempt to clear the silence between the both of you.

He flinched, raising a hand to rub the back of his neck, pink locks rustling as he took a one eighty, and started walking off.

"Well- as enjoyable as almost being thrown into a lava pit was- I should... probably get a move on."

He walked a few feet away before turning back around and once again putting his hands up in surrender position, "Almost falling was definitely the highlight of my day- and definitely isn't going to scar me in any way shape or form."

You laughed taking his dry and sarcastic humor with a grain of salt, "Sure."

He turned around to walk away, treading a few feet before stopping, again, to look at you and say, "I definitely won't scream the next time I look at lava."

Another laugh out of you, and you waved at him, "And 'definitely' no nightmares that wake you up at four in the morning with a cold sweat!"

A chuckle from him sent another dose of dopamine down your spine, and your mind physically wouldn't let you stop smiling.

"That... is an oddly specific scenario..."

"No correlation to real life- trust me." You gave him a grin, watching him give one last laugh before shaking his head and walking off into the nether.

For someone you had heard so much talk about, he was oddly not as aggressive as you thought he'd be.

Everyone described him as a bloodthirsty savage, but to you he felt like another tired soul.

A warrior? absolutely. His reflexes were amazing, and even in his simple movements it was easy to see how much strength thrummed beneath him. But he wasn't a savage, not by a long shot.

Still staring at where he wondered off to, even though he was long gone, you shook your head.

The nether was still giving you the creeps. And even with some positive social interaction crammed in where you least expected it...

You still weren't ready to face what was home to the nether...

Who... was home to the nether...

Another day you suppose.