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It only took about two weeks for life at the base to settle into something resembling normalcy. Phil hadn't been sure what to expect, given that it was the apocalypse and he was starting a settlement (objectively a terrible idea) with someone who was basically a stranger (watching someone from afar for a week didn't count in terms of getting to know them). Techno was really good at throwing himself into projects, though, which meant that while Phil took care of all of the little things that went into keeping the base livable, Techno was working on the potato farm.
Well. Technically, it was a farm for a lot of things, but Techno seemed most excited about the potatoes.
Regardless, the system worked out pretty well. Having two people to keep the base running meant more free time to work on side projects. Phil hadn't found anything major to work on yet, but he'd finally had time to start reading through all the instructions the base's previous owner had left on how to keep the place self-sustaining, which was definitely going to be helpful in the long run.
With all that, it took longer than it should have for him to realize that this new sense of normal was, in fact, impossible.
The scar on his forearm had been there since almost the beginning of the apocalypse. It was one of the worst injuries he'd ever had, mostly because medical supplies were pretty scarce about that time and it was a fairly deep wound. Aside from that, though, the injury was clearly a bite mark- and since it was a soulmate injury, that meant that his soulmate was dead. Or undead. Or whatever zombies were.
He hadn't really thought about it recently, because the scar had been there for quite a while and he'd gotten used to it being there. Nothing to worry about. Better not to think about it at all, actually. But then Techno had shown up, and he was decidedly not a zombie, and Phil had accepted that was normal, because them being soulmates just made sense in the moment.
Now, though, several weeks later and in the middle of the night, the realization hit him all of a sudden. He quietly cursed himself for not having thought of it sooner. Of course important revelations happened when he was trying to sleep, what better time could there possibly be?
He wasn't sure what to do about this, though. Again, it was the middle of the night. Techno would probably be asleep right now.
Even as Phil had the thought, there was a sharp pain across his thumb, and he swore aloud, shaking out his hand as if that would stop it from hurting. A quick examination showed it was a superficial cut. Deep enough to bleed and be annoyingly painful, but nothing catastrophic.
He sighed, heading over to the room with the medical supplies. At least Techno would probably show up there in a few minutes.
Sure enough, he was just finishing wrapping up his thumb when Techno walked in with a scrap of worryingly dirt-covered fabric wrapped around his hand. "Farmin' accident," was all he said, though he did have the grace to look apologetic.
"You're still working on the farm?"
Techno hummed, nodding. "It's actually goin' pretty well. Composter's up and runnin', all that's left now is gettin' the automated systems to work right."
He seemed entirely unconcerned with bandaging his hand, so Phil took out the first-aid supplies on his behalf, motioning for Techno to sit on the other chair in the medical room. The chairs had been Phil's idea, and really did come in handy in times like these, because he was quickly learning that the sight of blood (especially his own) made him lightheaded.
"So what happened, anyway?" He asked, hoping the conversation would be enough of a distraction. Despite the cloth wrapping and the pressure Techno had been applying, the injury still started bleeding again once it was removed.
Techno shrugged. "Forgot metal is sharp. There's these blades on… I think it's called a tiller? I was tryin' to push one of them into place, moved my hand a bit along the edge, and… yeah. Didn't think that one through." A moment's pause, as Phil used a disinfectant wipe on the cut, then he added, "You alright? You're lookin' kind of pale."
"I'm not great with blood," Phil admitted, setting the wipe aside and carefully wrapping a bandaid around Techno's thumb. "This isn't that bad, though. Not the worst I've seen."
"What was the worst one?"
Oh. That was actually a really great opening to transition into the whole "how the hell are you not a zombie right now" conversation.
There were pretty much two ways this could go, now that Phil was thinking about it. First option was that it was possible to have multiple soulmates, and Techno wasn't the one that got bitten. Not likely, but then again, Phil didn't know all that much about how soulmates worked. Second option: the bite mark wasn't from a zombie. Which would honestly raise more questions.
"I've actually got a scar from it," he started, pulling up his shirt sleeve to show off said scar. "From around when the apocalypse started. That one was from you, I think. I've always wondered what it came from."
Techno nodded slowly, but didn't answer the obvious question hidden in the statement, and for a second, Phil thought that his first guess had been right. That it was possible to have multiple soulmates, and Techno had no idea what he was talking about. Then-
"That one was from a bear trap, actually."
Phil blinked. Looked at the scar again.
"… you sure?"
Techno shrugged. "I dunno, I've never seen a bear trap before. Maybe it was some other kind of trap. The hinge thingy was pretty rusted, though, and the teeth were worn away. Didn't look like anyone had bothered with it in a long time. But… yeah. It was winter, there was snow everywhere, I didn't see a tree root and accidentally tripped into the trap. It didn't close all the way, 'cause of the hinges, otherwise it might've broken a bone or something. Still a pain to get it to open up again, though."
Phil studied the scar a little closer. It certainly looked like a bite mark... but after hearing what had apparently happened, maybe the scar was deeper and more evenly circular than a bite mark would've been. And maybe, just maybe, it would explain why his soulmate was not currently a zombie.
"While we're talkin' about scars, though," Techno continued, gesturing towards his face and the small line of a scar on his forehead. "What's this from?"
Ah, yes. The time he'd run full-speed into a door when he was nine. Easily the stupidest scar he'd ever gotten, and he hadn't even gotten a cool story out of it.
"Bar fight, I think," he lied.
Thankfully, Techno did not comment on the fact that the timeline there really didn't match up and just nodded. "Any other cool ones?"
Phil took a second to think about it. He didn't have all that many; he'd gotten his fair share of injuries as a kid and as a teenager, of course, but almost none of them were bad enoug to scar. "Not really. The ones on my fingers are from woodcarving, though. I picked it up years ago. Never really got good at it, and I lost interest after a while."
"You ever thought about tryin' it again? I think I saw a set of knives around here somewhere."
He hadn't, but honestly, that sounded like a good hobby to take up some of his free time. "I might try that, actually." Hopefully he could remember some of the techniques he'd learned all that time ago. "What about you, mate?" He continued. "Any fun stories?"
Techno leaned back, staring up at the ceiling for a second. "'s not a fun story, exactly, but I did get shot once."
"You- what?"
"In the shoulder. It didn't actually hit, just glanced off, but it left a scar- here." He pulled up his sleeve to show a mark on his upper arm. Which was also one Phil had wondered about for a long time, and now had even more questions about. "Wasn't a big deal or anything, it's just fun to say I got shot. I also had a few times in high school biology dissections where I didn't realize how sharp the scalpels were and cut my finger open. Those didn't leave a scar or anything, but they were really annoyin' for like… a week. Sorry about those."
So that's where those came from-
Phil nearly asked if they could go back to the whole getting shot thing, because Techno's explanation left out a lot of details, but decided not to at the last second. The change of topic seemed pretty deliberate and he'd mentioned it wasn't a fun story.
"While we're talking about things that didn't leave scars," he said instead, "I was running on a trail when I was… fifteen? Sixteen? I was with a group of friends on a mountain hike, and as I was going down, I tripped over a rock. Literally flew forwards, busted my knees open and scraped up my hands pretty good, too."
Techno winced in sympathy at that. "I remember that one. Oh- while we're on the subject, do we need to put a warnin' sign by the water filtration systems?"
"Warning sign?" Phil repeated. "What for?"
"You keep runnin' into the platform."
In Phil's defense, there was no reason for the water filtration system to be on a platform in the first place. Also, it wasn't his fault the thing was at exactly shin height and easy to forget about.
"How do you know you're not the one running into it?"
Techno snorted. "Dude, I only ran into it once. It's pretty easy to get used to. You, on the other hand…"
"Shush," Phil shot back, shaking his head with a laugh. "Fine, we can put up a sign."
"Thank you."