By the time Technoblade's leg is healed enough for him to leave the nest properly, the urge to do just that has become a constant itch beneath his skin.
He's been keeping it inside because he didn't want to make Philza feel bad. The elytrian really has been doing everything within his powers to make Techno as comfortable as possible. He has been learning how to cook meatless dishes to accommodate Techno's vegetarian diet, even going so far as to start a carrot farm on the slope of the hill near the tree. He has brought extra pillows and blankets into the nest despite not needing them because Techno runs so much colder than his new housemates. He has been to the commune's library numerous times in search of any books that would hold records on bunny hybrid biology.
Obviously, those attempts didn't turn anything up. Most warrens are notoriously hostile to outsiders - hybrid or human alike. Rabbits aren't too keen on writing their own books either. The only reason Technoblade himself can read is because his mother taught him.
Despite all Phil's efforts to make sure Techno is happy in the nest, Techno is jumping to leave it (both metaphorically and literally).
He longs for the ground, he longs for a burrow. He wants to feel the earth upturned under his paws and the smell of plants in his nostrils. The nest is nice - if a little too windy for his tastes - but Techno wants to have both legs on the ground where he belongs. Also, sitting still is starting to grate on him. That might have less to do with his origin though and more with Technoblade as a person.
"Are you sure you boys don't want me to come with you?" Phil asks. He's been hovering for a bit, wings fluffed up not so subtlety. Overall, Phil isn't too nosey of a parent. Technoblade sees Wilbur and Tommy come and go all day and Phil never really worries where they are and what they're up to so long as they're back by sundown. Clearly, this has him anxious though.
"I think it'll be fine," Techno says, stretching his leg. It doesn't hurt anymore, the wound is all but healed. He's been down the ladder a few times and sat on the shaded rocks beneath the tree in the past few days and it always burned a bit to put a strain on the muscle. That's gone though, now he can surely walk on it. He can run and jump and go all the way down into the valley, where there's grass and sunlight and the river.
"I'll be taking good care of him," Tommy says assuredly, pushing his shoulders back as if that would make him look bigger than his scrawny nine-year-old physique ever could. "Leave it to me."
Phil throws him an amused grin. "Yeah, that's exactly what I'm worried about."
"I don't need a babysitter," Techno says. And despite his best effort, he can't help from sounding mildly annoyed.
He's accepted that as far as most hybrid species go, being thirteen would make him register as a teenager at best. In the warren, you were expected to carry your own weight by the time you were six. Some of his older siblings had joined the defense guard or the scouting teams when they were his age. Some of them had left on gathering missions and never come back. Yet within this commune adults will still consider him a child. Or at least Phil does.
That doesn't mean Techno has to like it.
Sensing his irritation, Phil smiles mildly. "I trust that. As I said, I'm more worried about Tommy getting into trouble and dragging you down with him. Where is Wilbur, maybe he can join you?"
"Wilbur said he didn't want to take Techno on a tour so he's hiding out at the pier," Tommy says. He doesn't even make it subtle, despite it most definitely being something Wilbur told him in confidence and not with the intention for Tommy to repeat it later.
And that's exactly why it makes Techno cringe slightly.
Jup, Wilbur still hates his guts. Though it has mostly shifted to him avoiding Techno as often as he can, or just ignoring him when he is around. Which is better than the way he used to drag Tommy away and into games Techno couldn't join.
"We don't need him to come with us," Techno says quickly. "I'll keep an eye on Tommy."
"Just stay within the borders of the commune, for the sake of my sanity," Phil decides. He grabs Tommy as the child tries to make a beeline for the edge of the nest, pulling him back by one wing. "And no stealing. Not unless you're sure you can do it without getting caught."
"Roger that!" Tommy nods proudly.
Techno has no idea how this family thing works, but he's pretty sure fathers aren't supposed to encourage theft.
Tommy glides down and while Techno could probably jump down without messing up his leg again, he doesn't want to take the chance. He's so close to freedom that he can practically taste it. So he uses the ladder instead, finding himself safely on earthy soil once again. He has half a mind to simply lie down and soak in it. But that'd be weird probably. No, that'd definitely be weird. And Tommy doesn't give him the chance either, immediately latching onto his wrist to drag him along.
"There's so much I need to show you, where do I even start? We got to visit the pube, it's like mandatory at this point. Everybody in the commune loves it. There's also the market square and the community farm. And the pier of course but I think Wilbur will be there and he's sulking so-"
At this point Techno more or less tunes Tommy out, content to nod along to whatever he's saying and enjoying the fresh air and sun on his face. Sunlight can't really reach the nest or the area right below it, since Phil has built it in between the foliage and on the side of the mountain. Looking around now, with a clearer view of his surroundings, Techno realizes the entire commune is surrounded by mountain ranges, forming a sort of circle around the valley. The only open end is where it meets the sea instead. It's very pretty. When Techno looks up, he sees the air shimmer with something distant and unnatural. Like starlight caught in a net.
The glamor that Scott talked about.
It's a sort of invisible barrier that conceals all the buildings inside it should an unwanted traveler stumble upon the commune. All they would see is a valley overgrown with oak trees. The glamor also has an effect on a human's willingness to look into this area further, though Techno doesn't exactly get how that works. Scott must be capable of weaving very powerful magic to pull that off.
They walk around for a while, Techno doesn't mind it but several people come up to them to talk and it's kind of awkward, plus overwhelming enough that he forgets most of their names as soon as he's introduced to them. There's a man with very short hair and patches of molten lava bubbling on the surface of his skin. He's nice but loud. He shakes Techno's hand, which Techno thinks is funny. Bunnies never shake hands. Then there's a girl who lives in the pond that has a long scaly tail. She laughs and comments on the fact that they both have the same hair color. Techno agrees that's a cool coincidence. He decides he likes the girl just because she also likes pink.
There's another kid with wings, around the same age as Tommy. Hers are strange though, one is a paler blonde like Tommy's own, almost catching white in the valley's sunlight. The other is a darkish brown with streaks of grey in it. She's an avian, but a strange one. Maybe some type of subspecies? Techno doesn't know what to think of it. He had never seen any other hybrids outside of pictures until two weeks ago.
Her name is Beautie. Tommy sticks his tongue out at her and she chases him around with a stick. Techno thinks it's a game - a very confusing, nonsensical game.
He doesn't ask, allowing Tommy to cart him off to some new place after waving goodbye to the firl. It's all a little too much for Techno to properly process at this point. The warren had been busy, but a different kind of busy. There was a lot of structure and routines that were ingrained so deeply into every rabbit that it felt like second nature. All to keep themselves safe, of course.
In this commune people just do whatever they want.
The place Tommy brings him to next is some kind of obstacle course inside a cave. While Techno watches, Tommy leaps and climbs from perch to perch. He's… not very good at it? But that's probably because his wings aren't very good at carrying his weight either. They're too small for his body.
"They'll grow bigger, someday!" Tommy assures him after once again eating dirt. Techno tries not to laugh but can't completely subdue a chuckle. Tommy doesn't seem to mind. "Soon, I'll be able to fly just as well as Dad can."
"You'll need to do a lot more training to get there, bossman!" somebody says from behind Tommy, tone jesting.
Techno leans forward, seeing that it's a boy who walked up to them. A boy with messy, brown hair and two translucent bug wings sticking from his back. He also might be the same age as Tommy, it's kind of hard to tell.
"Oh yeah?" Tommy says while turning around. He points at the boy to challenge him. "First one to get to the big oak tree at the bottom of the hill wins. How about that?"
The boy pulls down a pair of goggles he wears pushed to his forehead. "You're on."
Before Techno can blink, they're off. Tommy probably forgot he was even there. But Techno knows where the oak tree is and he promised Phil to keep an eye on Tommy, so… Getting up and walking to the cave's entrance, Techno can already see those two gliding down on furiously beating wings. Both of them are fast, but not as fast as Phil when he's flying.
And probably not as fast as Techno when he leaps.
Bending his knees, he inhales sharply before pushing off on the powerful muscles in his hind legs. He's never really jumped such large distances before, but it can't be too different from hopping around the warren, right? The oak tree isn't even that far.
He doesn't nail the landing, wincing when there's a sharp stab of pain through his healed ankle.
Showing off was probably not his smartest idea, but the look on Tommy's face more than made up for it. "Holy sh- how did you get here so fast?"
"I jumped." His simple statement is met with looks of disbelief, and the bee boy cranes his neck back to see the distance he had covered with a single leap.
"That's pretty impressive," he says. When he pushes the goggles up again, Techno can see his eyes are the colour of honey. "You're that rabbit hybrid the entire commune has been buzzing about then?" He laughs at his own pun.
"Oh, right. Tubbo, this is Techoblade! He's staying with us." Tommy latches onto his arm again to pull Techno to his feet. "Techno, this is Tubbo. He's like, my best friend in the whole world."
"And beyond it," Tubbo adds with a nod.
"It's nice to meet you," Techno says. "I like your flowers."
"Aw, thanks." Tubbo reaches up to touch the flowers woven into his hair. "I grew them myself. I live down by the hive, next to Ranboo's place. We've been trying to maintain a royal garden."
"You live by yourself?" Techno asks. Phil did mention that there were some other orphaned kids in the commune, kids that aren't living with adults. Briefly, he wonders if he wants that too. To dig his own warren and leave Phil's nest forever. But rabbits are a pack species and Techno doubts he could convince anybody to live underground with him. If his choices are to either be alone in a warren or together in a nest, he'll pick the nest any time.
"It's almost kind of like we live together, Ranboo and I." Tubbo shrugs. "But Scott and the Captain check in on us a lot, so we haven't blown anything important up in… like, a month probably."
That's concerning.
"We should go down there now to see if Ranboo's home," Tommy suggests.
Once again Technoblade allows himself to be carted off into the unknown. He's grateful for his internal sense of direction because he has a basic idea of how to orient himself. If something were to happen, he's certain he could get back to Phil's nest. Probably. Hopefully.
The hive is… well it's exactly what it sounds like: a huge hive hanging down from a thick tree branch. Next to the tree stands a sort of cottage that seems to ambitiously be trying yet failing to emulate a castle - complete with stone fences and towers, and glass stained windows. Smoke is coming out of the chimney. Around it is the garden Tubbo mentioned.
"She's home," Tommy says, sounding disappointed.
"When will you give it a rest?" Tubbo asks.
"Never." A not-so-gentle push against Techno's back follows, Tommy urging him on. "Go knock on the door. Distract her so I can do my heist."
"What?!" Techno asks. He did not sign up for this.
"Tommy's been trying to steal Ranboo's gapple," Tubbo explains.
An impatient sigh comes from Tommy then. "Ranboo didn't even find it, Sneeg did. And he gave it to Ranboo because Ranboo kept whining about it. Please just distract him, only for a little bit. I can nab it and be gone in a blink."
Tommy is staring at him with such earnest eyes, Techno doesn't feel like he can refuse. He knows he promised Phil to keep Tommy out of trouble, but Phil also said they shouldn't be caught stealing. And if Tommy is dead set on attempting to steal something, then wouldn't Phil technically want Techno to help him? Yeah, sure, that makes sense.
There's a humming coming from inside the cottage, Techno can hear somebody walking around. He raises his hand to knock on the door and as soon as he does it's like the air pops in his ears. The door immediately opens.
"Can I help you?" the person who opened it asks. They're tall, so tall Techno has to tilt his chin up to look at them properly. Despite that, they seem younger than him, frame all lanky and uneven. They're wearing pretty fancy clothes for somebody who lives in a cottage, with silky fabrics and lace and a dainty crown on their head. Techno's tail stands upright, his skin prickling unpleasantly.
Oh, an enderman. The very sight of them can have a rather… unpleasant effect on those who are not used to being around them, Techno remembers. Especially on prey animals like bunnies. There were plenty of horror stories about bunnies running into endermen on patrol and none of them were pretty.
Techno spins around, desperately looking for Tommy and Tubbo. He does not want to deal with this alone. Unfortunately, it has the unintended side effect of making the enderman - Ranboo, his mind helpfully reminds him - look over his shoulder to follow his gaze.
"Hi Tommy. Hi Tubbo." She gives them both a pleasant wave. "Why are you hiding in my bushes?"
"We've been spotted. Abort the mission!" Tommy all but screeches, starting to run away. Tubbo follows him and in a moment of supreme instincts, Techno does too.
"Oh, uh… bye?" Techno can hear Ranboo call after him faintly as he speeds away.
He doesn't know how far they run, the landscape passing by in a blur and Techno simply following the trail of Tommy's scent freshly left behind on the earth. He comes to the river eventually, not managing to stop in time from actually running straight into the boy.
With an undignified squeak, Tommy tumbles back and into the water.
Tubbo is already laughing while Tommy comes up again, the flaying of his wings slinging water onto them. Techno recoils a bit, twitching one ear to shake the droplets off.
"Sorry about that," he says casually. "I don't think bunnies and endermen get along very well."
"Yeah, no kidding." Tommy hauls himself out of the water. Drenched like that, he looks more like a drowned chicken than a proud avian. "Blast! We'll have to do our heist some other time. And you have to help me again, as compomsation."
"Compensation?" Techno ventures. Tommy scrunches up his nose at him.
"Whatever."
"When I see him tonight, I'll tell Ranboo you just got shy," Tubbo says. "He's a really nice guy, he'd hate to think you were scared of them."
"Technically, I am scared of them," Techno deadpans. "I can't really help it."
"Bunny instincts are a lot stronger than the instincts in most other hybrids," Tubbo says to himself. "Interesting."
"It's not interesting, it's cold!" Tommy complains. He is shivering, hair plastered to his face in bunches. "Let's get home before dad throws a fit."
They say their goodbyes before heading off. While they walk they can see the sun setting over the tops of the mountains, coloring the usually white snow in hues of orange and purple. It glitters beautifully, and Tommy points out all the highest spots he'll learn to fly to someday. Techno nods along again, content with that.
As chaotic as today was, maybe he can really get used to this place.