"Remind me again why we're out this early in the morning?"
Really.
You wanted to know why you were up right now instead of sleeping the day away.
After what a confusing day yesterday was, you wanted to stay in solitude for as long as you could, but instead Techno was shaking you awake at an ungodly time, and telling you to get layered up.
Which lead you here.
Walking down the steps of the outside of Techno's snow covered house.
Every breath you exhaled condensed the moment it hit the air, cold snow crunching under the heel of your moderately oversized, not really yours, boots as you follow after Techno.
The sun had barely started to peak over the horizon, early morning hours making it feel like night.
Techno glanced back at you, squinting at your comment.
"Because I think you're at least healed enough to do something other then wait around." Techno mutters to you, crunching through the snow easily and turning around the corner of the house.
You stare at where he turned, layered upon layered with every sort of fabric Techno had in his house- yet still so cold despite it all. Your hands felt numb through the thick gloves, and despite the scarf wrapped around your face, your cheeks were all but frozen.
You huff.
Alright.
Walk away then.
You follow after him around the corner, watching him walk right up to a little stable sort of area.
A massive, fluffy horse stood diligently near the wall of the house. The blanket it had on was thick, and for good purpose. With how cold it probably got at night, you figured the horse would need it.
It's ears perked up when it heard people approaching, a small snort coming out of its nose as it turned to see who was coming.
It-
Aw.
It was a really cute horse.
It was so incredibly fluffy- and its mane was so long that you couldn't see its eyes- its hooves were feathered, condensed snow dried to the fur there- but so adorable nonetheless.
It snorted again as you both got closer, Techno reaching the gate first and patting its muzzle as it calmly strut up to look at you both.
It barely paid any mind to Techno's petting, lazer focusing on the bucket in his hand.
"Greedy bastard." Techno mutters, before turning to you and holding the bucket out for you to grab, "Hold this."
You take it, awkwardly gripping the metal handle as Techno opens the gate- pushing the horse away from the exit and sliding the gate closed again.
The halter on the horses head was a bit dusted in snow, so when Techno grabbed it, he dusted cold flakes off of it.
"This isn't the same horse from last time." You say, staring at Techno as he hooked a lead onto the bottom of the horses halter, "He looks... slower then the one before. Not as-... thoroughbred as the other one."
"Definetly slower." He says, wandering around in the horse pen and tying the lead onto a peice of the fence. He swings around, patting the horse on the blanket and saying, "Meet Carl."
"Carl?" You laugh. Because of course Techno named his horse a human name. A lot of people liked naming horses eccentric things like Storm Breaker, and Moon Dancer- but then you've got Techno.
With Carl.
He grins at your laugh, walking up to the gate and holding a hand out, "What's with that laugh? Sure he's only the... fourth fastest... but he's a solid horse, alright?"
Wordlessly, you place the bucket into Technos outstretched hand, watching him take it and walk back to Carl.
The bucket is hooked to the side of the fence as soon as Techno gets close enough, and Carl digs in to the grain there the moment Techno moves his hand away.
Tech looks at you. Still awkwardly standing next to the gate.
"You can come in if you want." He says, to which you shake your head.
"Naw- I don't think Carl would appreciate it."
He squints at you, but doesn't push, only looking back to Carl and grabbing at the velcro on the horse blanket.
With the blanket off Carl, he hung it up on the fence post, unhooking a brush and pressing the bristles onto Carl's fur.
Is this what Techno did in the morning? Take care of Carl?
Hell, you didn't even know Techno had a horse out here. Carl never neighed, so you'd never heard him, and you never went outside, so you never saw him.
What a way to start a morning.
You figured he just woke up, and ran out into the unknown.
"Is this what you do in the morning?" You ask, observing just how much care he put into brushing the thick fur.
"Pretty much."
"Ah."
You stared at him for awhile longer as he worked on brushing the fur, before saying, "So why'd you wake me up again?"
Techno huffed, "Just thought you might want some fresh air."
You scoffed. You could get fresh air anytime you wanted.
But it was cold outside.
And you didn't want a repeat of last time.
So having him there would be an assurance.
But Tech was never here in the afternoon-
...
You guessed his reasoning worked well enough.
Whatever.
You watched him work his way to the horses neck, swinging the long mane out of the way to reach the fur.
Maybe-
On no.
Bad brain- for getting ideas-
But staring at how long the mane was on Carl-
You wanna braid it now. Or at least put in a small little braid- or maybe several small little braids.
Mmmmmm-
MMMmmmMmmm-
"Can-... Can I braid Carl's mane?" You ask, and Techno doesn't even spare you a glance, just muttering, 'Sure.' And continuing to brush Carl's fur.
After a moment of thought, Techno tacks on, "You're gonna have to untangle it first though- there's a comb on the hooks."
You look to where Techno grabbed a brush, and true to his word, a comb was hooked up there as well.
You stare for a moment longer, at Techno, and Carl, and the gate placed between both of you.
Your will cracked, and you slipped into the stable, closing the gate behind you and going straight for the comb.
Shoot. You didn't even have a band.
Mmm-
You look at Techno again, eyeing his braid-
Surely- surely Techno has some spare bands.
With a small skip, you stand beside Techno and softly punch his arm, "Band...?"
You peek at his face, the amused half smile on his face making you purse your lips, but not a moment later of his hand reaching into his satchel, and three bands are placed into your hand.
Yyyyyesssssss.
Yyyyyyyeessssssssss.
You grin.
Patiently, you wait for Techno to finish on Carl's neck, before swooping in to start combing through the horses hair.
Carl flinches at your touch- ears flicking back- but he's much too swept up in eating to really care that who's combing him is you.
Techno switches to Carl's other side, and the both of you work in silence-
It was strangely soothing.
Just you, and the course hair slowly getting untangled.
It was still ungodly cold out- and your fingers were still all but frozen, but something about just... helping to take care of something made your chest feel warm.
Before you knew it, his mane was nicely combed, and you were immediately onto braiding, deciding to make a few small braids rather then a few massive ones.
Grabbing a small tussle of hair, you separated it into three sections, crossing them over and over into the middle until you reached the end, grabbing a band and wrapping it around the loose ends.
You repeated, running out of bands and taking a step back to look at your handiwork.
You didn't even realize Techno was done brushing Carl's fur until he plucked the comb out of your hand, gently grabbing Carl's tail and beginning to comb through that.
You didn't realize that Carl was done eating either, only passively standing there, one ear flicked in your direction to listen for you, while the other remained impassive.
You felt a lot calmer now that you did that.
Huh.
Taking another step back, you eye everything in the stable, from the hanging bucket- to the saddle resting on a ledge, to the different assortment of brushes and leads hung up on hooks.
Seemed like Techno had everything here for Carl.
From beside you, Techno stands, finished with combing Carl's tail, and maneuvering around you to grab Carl's lead.
He untied it, and led him out of the fenced area.
Of course, you followed, a tad unsure about what he was doing, but once he got Carl out, he immediately tossed the lead to you.
"Hold him."
You take it, giving an unsure glance to Carl, who lifted his leg and dug his hoof into the snow with a puff of hot air.
You weren't the biggest fan of holding the lead to an animal this big, much less any animal that you knew felt uneasy around you, but you held it regardless, letting Techno shovel the inside of the pen without worrying about his horse taking off.
It took a good bit for him to finish, and when he did, he walked into the house through the basement entrance.
Which left you alone with Carl.
You stared uneasily at the horses snoot- brown nose soft looking, and white blaze nearly covered by the long tan mane.
"Soo..." You start with, still looking at Carl, "You come here often?"
He doesn't at all react.
Of course.
He's a horse.
But you tried, whatever.
The basement door jingles, and Techno comes back out with both a straw-bale, and haybale under his arms. He awkwardly kicks the doors closed, meandering over to the pen and dropping the haybale into the bucket.
"You want to put a blanket on Carl, or spread the straw?"
"Straw-" you saw without remorse, handing Techno the lead and putting both hands around the bale of straw.
He huffs at your obvious distrust of his horse, wordlessly grabbing the blanket to swing over Carl.
You make quick work of the straw, ripping the thing apart and trying your best to spread it evenly around the pen.
Which wasn't too hard.
Rip, throw, rip throw.
Sometimes you'd need to even out thre straw if you threw too much in one area, but you think you did a good job.
By the time you were done, Techno was just finishing up securing the blanket on Carl, and instead of putting Carl back in, he grabbed the lead and unhooked it from Carl's halter.
"You let him free roam?" You ask, watching as Carl calmly went trotting off into the snowy fields.
"He knows where he gets fed." Is all Techno supplies you with, dusting off any horse fur that got on him and taking the initiative to walk to the door, "Coming back in?"
The snow flurried around you.
Cold wind pushing into your figure and making you feel weak.
Carl's figure turned into a speck against the white tundra, and your eyes drift from the speck, to the sky above. The sunrise was over- any spectacular colors fading into what the usual day looked like.
Your hand reaches for a pocket-
Pure habit.
Everytime you'd look around at the time of day you'd reach into your pockets to thumb over your compass.
After doing it for so long, you could hardly stop yourself.
Only to come to the startling realization that no.
You have no pockets.
No pockets, and no compass-
On no.
Oh shit.
Your compass.
Where was it??
A foot step in your direction makes you flinch- and you flick your head to look at Techno.
When he sees the panic in your face he takes another step forward, scanning and re-scanning your face with complete bewilderment.
"Did- did Carl really scare you that bad??" He says- completely flabbergasted in tone of voice- speaking like you'd supply him with an answer that would help him help you.
"My compass-" you say- breaking off your sentence to drop your dead gaze to his boots.
"Your compass?"
"I don't have it." As though to prove you don't, you pat where your pockets used to be- before you adopted a new, not yours, wardrobe.
"I don't have it-" You repeat.
Holy shit.
That was-
That was your only tie left to your brother.
How the hell did you loose it??
...
Oh yeah.
A particular memory flashes you, of fireworks splattering against the ground- and withers flashing through the air with their darkly colored ribs and glowing, raw essence.
The looks of horror on everyone's face as they stared up at Techno with his grin ever wide beneath the bone mask. It was a grim reminder.
The grim thought that oh yeah.
That's probably where you lost it.
Who the hell knows where it is now.
Your face drops the panic on it.
Blank expression- bleak of hope.
There's no way you can find it.
It's lost.
Techno looks at you. A scrunched kind of facial expression scribbled over his brows. He looked as though he had no idea what to say to you. Had no idea how to remedy this situation, and was instead stuck staring at your blank face.
"If it's anywhere, it's in the remnants of L'mamberg." You pause, "But we both know that's a complete mess."
"More or less." Techno supplies, deapan voice offering nothing but confirmation.
A deep, deep exhale escapes you.
And then you take a step. And another, until you've limped your way around Techno's awkwardly still form, cracking the door open and gingerly stepping inside.
Back in the warmth of the house, layered upon layered with clothes.
Techno doesn't follow.
A good ten minutes later, and he still hasn't, but the footsteps you catch in the snow when you look out the window told you enough to know that he left.
Back out to whatever it is he does.
Can't say you were too surprised.