c!rivals honestly have such an amazing dynamic.
you have two of the strongest people, one called into help with a war waged on the other's land. they meet on a mountain where techno is given gifts and dream remembers this exact spot over a year later, when his memories are fading.
they fought with each other and against each other and then dream gave a warning and a map that saved techno from losing his only life.
they tease each other, they lean into each other's jokes. they stand each other down with weapons in their hands.
then they team up together for doomsday and techno says that dream is one of the few people that hasn't betrayed him, they say that they're not friends, merely people who respect each other and understand this is mutually beneficial.
dream refuses to write a note to lure techno, even when threatened by the man torturing him. techno walks into a trap because he needed to check on dream, he writes this in his will, it's that important to him to note. dream begs him to stop, to go back.
and techno with his one life is wiling to die to protect dream and dream is willing to die because he doesn't want techno to go through dying and when techno vanishes from the prison and sam finds dream hiding in that tiny space, dream doesn't let him break the bell. there's no reason for this. but dream refuses to let his abuser and the one who facilitated his torture, break this stupid little bell.
he's sentimental, techno says when he goes to the location where the blue prints are hidden. and that's why the bell is still there.
so techno returns to break dream out, break out his friends, and dream with his ender pearls and netherite armor doesn't leave techno, he goes back and stays until they both leave.
and it's easy to think, after techno turns dream away, that he didn't mean it when he said dream was one of his best friends, but techno rarely lies and his actions show that dream means something to him. techno, who is one of two people to consistently bring up dream's torture as something bad. while dream just, consistently speaks about techno.
rivals because they're powerful and people can't imagine they wouldn't be rivals, because they've fought once, despite siding with each other more. and they've both been hurt and betrayed and they're cautious and wary and sentimental and reckless. it's so fascinating to see this dance they do, partly for the benefit of others, partly because they don't know how much they can trust each other, but they care about each other. rivals who just. are friends.
dededos
theartofmadeline
jacobvanloon
blakekathryn
annaxmalina
vaporwave
