The next day didn't bring much of a difference to the ones before. Phil and Techno got up only a bit after the sun rose and ate their breakfast, laughing and discussing plans for the day. Dream and George on the other hand slept way into early noon. Why, no one really knew, since yesterday wasn't that stressful.

When they finished their breakfast and left the house with Blade in tow, Phil and Techno were almost done with harvesting the farm. "Morning you two!" The oldest grinned and waved, his trusty hat successfully keeping the sun out of his eyes while Techno had to squint and use his hand to block the bright light.

"Morning." George yawned and leaned against the house wall, still trying to fully wake up. "You two are up early..." Techno huffed and lifted a basket with potatoes over the small fence around the farm. "What do you mean early? It's noon." The two looked up at the sky and Dream immediately laughed. "Ups...sorry about that." "It's fine. We didn't plan for anything special today anyways."

Phil grinned and went back to bundling up all the wheat from today's harvest. He and Techno had agreed on expanding the farm, just to make sure they have enough food. If they notice that some food would go bad or that their current harvest was especially good, they will just trade it at the village for emeralds. Now that they got a rough idea on how useful trading with villages actually is, they made an effort to try and save up trade-able stuff and valuables in case they ever spontaneously need something.

"Hey Phil?" "Yes?" The blonde looked up at George again, who was staring at him from his spot against the wall. "Since when do you have earrings?" Oh right, they don't know about Techno's little gift yesterday. During breakfast and getting ready for the day they had figured out that the florist Kai had slipped something else together with the earrings into Techno's possession. The two were very happy when they realized that they could turn the earrings into clip-ons, so they won't actually need to have their ears pierced. Now both of them each proudly wore one of the glittering emeralds.

"Since yesterday. We got them at the flower shop." "You... bought earrings? Why?" "The florist gave them to me as a gift. He said it's a thank you for buying so many flowers." Techno lifted the second basket over the fence, this one full with carrots. His emerald glittered in the sunlight as it softly swung back and forth from the movement. "Dreeeaaaammm I want matching stuff too!" "George we don't have anything..." "Then let's find something!"

Phil laughed as he watched George shake his friend like a small kid begging their parent for something in the store. "Next time we go to the village, we can see if we find something for you two. How does that sound?" "Great!" "Now that that's settled, help me get these to the house and then we can split them between us."

The group laughed and carried the baskets to Phil and Techno's house first, filling up the food barrels before bringing the rest over to the other house. If there is one thing that won't happen to them, it's starving. Even if they would have to live of potatoes and carrots for months.

"Should we go explore a bit? I haven't fully mapped out the surrounding area yet, only parts into the woods and the village." Phil looked out the window of the house, watching as Brian and Blade played together. There were affirmative hums from the group, except for one person. "You know what I think about going outside..." "Yes we know George, but we can't hide in here forever." "Why not? It's save, we have food and water..."

"Because we need to find a way out of here. We can't do that by just sitting in here. Or do you want to stay in this world for the rest of your life?" George looked down at his hands, obviously sad now. Of course he wants to go home, why would he ever want to stay in a world full of monsters for the rest of his life? "I want to go home... but I don't want to die trying to get there."

"Okay, how about this. Dream and Techno can go look around for a bit, if you take Brian with you. He'll get me if something happens and can lead you back home if you get lost. I will stay here with George and check on his shoulder. If it's well enough by now he can help me farm some more resources. Or do you guys have a better plan?"

"I guess that's alright." "Great, you're leaving me with the teletubby." "Oh come on! When will you stop saying that!" "Never." The group erupted into laughter while the masked man just crossed his arms and pouted underneath his mask. "Fine... but no more comments or I will throw you into a river." "I'm not scared of you teletubby." "Techno!"

Not soon after the two left the safety of the base, both wearing iron armor and carrying their new weapons. Blade was left with George and Phil, because Dream refuses to take him anywhere that could be dangerous. He will never let anything happen to his beloved new companion, even if it meant leaving him in the base for a bit.

At least they have Brian, who was perched on Techno's shoulder and happily pecking at the emerald dangling from his ear. "Don't break it, Phil and I will get very mad at you." The crow just cawed and reached to try and remove the earring, clearly seeing this as a challenge. Just like his owner... "Brian I swear to god..." He shooed the bird off of his shoulder, who immediately just flew around him and landed on the other. At least he can't steal the emerald from there.

"I swear that bird is smarter than he looks..." Brian squawked at the insult, making Techno laugh at how Dream flinched away immediately. "What did you expect? Crows are not natural in Minecraft, he's clearly very specific to Phil alone and is just as smart too." "I mean... apart from the bird qualities that Phil doesn't have..." "You kidding? Have you seen that man around shiny stuff? He's a bird in human form."

Dream snorted and looked back in front of him, scanning the horizon for anything interesting. "Right. If you say so." So far they haven't found anything interesting besides small patches of forest and an abandoned village. Seeing all the creepy houses with their half collapsed roofs and cobwebs everywhere was quite the experience... and both Dream and Techno agreed to stay far away from that place from now on.

"It's so weird to actually see all of this... it looks so familiar and yet so... strange." "Yeah... I don't even want to know what it will feel like to actually just play Minecraft once we get back home." "Mmm..." They walked in silence for a bit, with Dream watching the ground in front of him, both bored and just... confused. About what, he doesn't really know.

"Dream look." The masked man followed his friend's gaze, easily seeing what Techno was pointing to. There was smoke rising in the distance, right behind a hill to their left. "A fire?" "Maybe from a lava lake... Those can start whole forest fires." "That's not enough smoke to be from a forest fire. This looks like a chimney or campfire." The two shared a look before walking into the direction of the smoke.

Best case scenario- it was one of their friends that had wandered into their direction so they can finally find them. Worst case... who says pillagers can't start fires in villages. Techno decided to hold his new axe in hand, jut in case he needs to defend himself. But when they crossed the hill and spotted the source of the fire, his body immediately relaxed as he sighed in relief.

Not too far away from a river, at the edge of a birch forest, sat two figures around a small campfire. It was hard to make out too many details from so far away, but he could vaguely make out the color red on one person and white on the other. "Look Techno! More of us!" "Are we sure they are people we know?" "Oh come on, who else would be out here all by themselves!" "Good point."

The two made their way down the hill and towards the two figures, who didn't seem like they noticed them at all. But that didn't matter as Techno soon recognized a very loud voice talking. "Oh no... It's the child." Sure enough, Tommy's loud laughter was already recognizable from quite a distance away. "Oh Phil will be so happy that he's here." "Please... he will make him live in my house. I will never get proper sleep again."

The other person with Tommy finally noticed the two approaching and got up, a stone sword in hand. Though Dream only had to see him for a second to realize who it was. "Sapnap!" He sprinted towards the other, who immediately dropped his sword and greeted his friend with a hug. "Dream! Oh my god you're here too!"

The hug only lasted for a few seconds before Dream let go and checked for any kind of injury. "Are you okay? Do you guys need bandages? I have some food with me too if you are hungry." "We're fine, don't worry. Just a bit spooked and all that. This is all so... overwhelming."

While the two talked, Techno knelt down next to Tommy, who watched Dream with big eyes before noticing him. Once he did his eyes grew even wider. "Holy shit..." "Hey Tommy." "Techno!" The teen grinned and hugged the older tightly, who immediately flinched at how cold he was. "What the... did you go swim in the river?!" "Not on purpose!"

It was only now that Techno realized how much Tommy was shaking. So, being the very caring person he is, he gave him his cape to warm up in. "Awww look at the big softy." "I take it back, give me my cape." "Nooo I'm sorry please I'm so cold." The man sighed and fully sat down on the ground, watching as Tommy wrapped his cape more around himself. "Are you hungry?" "Yes." He handed the teen an apple, who immediately began to devour it.

"You two already have armor and shit? How?" Sapnap watched in awe as Dream held up his enchanted sword. He obviously had to be a show off right now... "The armor we made ourselves, the weapons we traded in a village. Nothing too big, pretty easy actually." Techno only rolled his eyes. "You actually went mining?" "Dream and Phil did go mining, yes." "Phil is here too?!

Tommy grabbed Techno's arm, grinning. "Yes. He's actually been here to longest and has a base set up and everything." "Of course he does. He's Philza Minecraft!" Brian, who had previously perched himself in a nearby tree, now came down to sit in Tommy's lap, cooing softly as he stared up at the blonde. "Oh my god that is so cool... Is he Phil's crow?" Techno nodded while Tommy reached up to stroke over smooth black feathers.

"He named him Brian." "Does Phil have his big wings too? Can he fly?" "No. He looks completely normal, the only difference are his clothes, like how it is for Sapnap and Dream." "But you don't look normal, you have pink hair and shit." "That... has a different reason, I think. I'm not quite sure about it myself."

With slightly shaking legs, Tommy got up and took a few steps. "Well. Nothing we can change now. Let's go say hi to Phil!" Techno laughed and followed him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder to keep him from falling over. "You sure you can walk? I can give you a piggyback if you need it." "Softnoblade." "You and I both know Phil will kill me if I let something happen to Tommy."

"So... you guys actually have a base?" "Sure do!" "It was Phil's base and we kinda just moved in. There should be enough space for you two to fit in. Sapnap can live with Dream and George and you will probably stay with me and-" "GOGY?!" Sapnap stared at Dream with big eyes while Techno pouted at being interrupted. "Yeah he is here too." "What are we waiting for?! Let's go!"

And thus, the four started their way home. It didn't take that long, considering they only have to travel through mostly plains, no forest blocking their way. Tommy ended up actually getting that piggyback, much to his own delight about not having to walk.

As soon as they reached the base, Brian took off to inform Phil about the two new visitors. "Wow... look at that thing. You guys have it protected from all sides!" "Phil did make it. And if anyone knows how to survive Minecraft, it's him." They lead the two over the bridge and into the base, where it was silent. "Where are they?" The place was empty and for a second Techno got worried that something might have happened, since Phil would have left some sort of note if they actually went out to gather stuff.

But that fear soon vanished when he heard footsteps echo up the staircase of the mine. Sure enough, both Phil and George ran out, Phil only wearing the black undershirt of his outfit, covered in soot and dust again while George only had a bit of dust in his hair. "Tommy!" "Sapnap!"

Techno carefully placed Tommy down so he could hug Phil, clearly not caring about how much of a mess the oldest was right now. "Oh god are you alright? Why did Techno have to carry you? Are you hurt?" Tommy laughed and fully enjoyed the hug, mostly because it helped him feel warmer. He may have fully dried by now, but he's still cold. "I'm fine. Just a bit cold. I fell into a river."

Phil's face was priceless. The pure horror in his eyes made him laugh because really, he's alive and well, isn't he? "You what?!" "He's fine Phil, relax." "He could have drowned!" "The river wasn't that deep." "How did you get in there?!" "I was play fighting with Sapnap."

The fear in the other man's eyes was even better than Phil's look earlier. Because as soon as he heard his name and saw Phil's head snap towards him, he went to hide behind Dream. Who knew he would cower in fear from the old man?

"You."

Welp, he's dead.