aefenglom | video; un: METTATON

Entry tags:

video; un: METTATON

Name: Mettaton
Date: 02/20
Format: video
Warnings: mention of death (he's better now!), talk of the recent event (Cwyld, kidnappings)

[Propped up against a plain pillow in the Coven's infirmary is Mettaton. His manner is languid, slow, and his rabbit ears are in such poor shape that they no longer stand anymore, sore-ridden and flopped over. Cradled against his shoulder and chest is a man's head, dark haired with a shock of white at his bangs, fast asleep.

Ears aside, his hair... is perfect. He flashes a photogenic smile otherwise interrupted by rabbit-like teeth.]

Hey there, beauties! It's Mettaton again, coming to you live from the... infirmary. [Not very glamorous, suggests his flat tone.] My sincerest apologies to those of you who've encountered me over the past few weeks. I haven't been in my right mind!! And not only that, but I was infected with the Cwyld. It was horrible. Terrible! Disturbing! To clear things up: I don't actually endorse contracting the Cwyld. In fact... Oh my. I died, thanks in part to it.

In the end, I was offed by one of you lovely darlings, before I... Before it got too bad. I was told it was a duo! [Mettaton tilts his head.] If that encounter sounds familiar, get in touch, gorgeous! I want to thank you personally. I promise I don't bite much... Haha.

[The idol pauses heavily, stuck with a smile. This is the more taxing part of his broadcast, and there's a flash of remorse in his gaze. Mettaton is a practiced face, however, so he's able to pull himself together with startling ease despite the overall tone.]

I'm sure many of you know Mikasa Ackerman. It seems... she's departed all too recently. I looked for her. Everywhere. Trust me. [Mettaton sighs; it's clear he's trying to remain composed enough for conversation, but he allows a measure of genuine sorrow to soften his expression.] She's... one of my best friends. She's a remarkable human who never fails to entrance me, no matter how quiet and stoic. She's powerful, protective, and fierce, and you'd know what I meant if you've met her. She's amazing enough to dazzle yours truly!!

...I tried to tell Eren about Mikasa, but I couldn't reach him, either. If anyone knows where... if he's still here, would you be a dear and let me know? He still owes me money!!

[Mettaton smirks playfully, but it fades as he continues.]

Well. Ahem. As some of you may have known, Mikasa and Eren live in a perilous world. It didn't sound... [Mettaton glances aside, disturbed.] I can't help but wonder if she... If they'll be all right.

[A surprisingly thoughtful silence follows, but Mettaton's quick to shake off his reverie with a quiet sigh and a hard blink. He puts his best face forward and continues, addressing more the rest of the Mirrorbound.]

Speaking of perilous... After a week of disappearances, sickness, and kidnapping alike, how are you all doing? Talk to me, darlings. You aren't going this alone!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[She takes a moment to chew on that question, eventually shaking her head slowly.]

...No, I suppose I don't. I wish I had been more prepared for them to strike back, in hindsight, but mouthing off to them? Hell no.

[The twitch of a confident smile, though it is tinged with something wry and sad.]

I guess you and I are kind of alike in that regard... Well, it's better than shying away and sitting on one's hands, I think. I'd hate being relegated to that even more. But it happened, it sucked, and now we'll move on from it. That's all.

[A sigh, and a glance at Hades. Honestly, he could very well be listening in, but either way, she doesn't mind. He's experienced death before, perhaps a number of times, so it's doubtful he's sour about that much.]

But I have to ask... was there no one either of you could have turned to for help?

... Me.

[There's something heavy in the sound of Asriel's voice, but he continues on.]

Once I realized what Chara wanted to do... I couldn't go through with it. But before we could really get a chance to fight over it, the villagers had found us and well...

[The rest is history, right?]

[Mettaton hums and settles back with a short nod, drained of his usual, boisterous energy. He can't quite bring it, no matter how much he'd like to... But he can maintain effortlessly his regular, positive demeanor. It would be hard to be anything else.

He doesn't expect her to ask him something in this vein, and it puzzles him. A second hum slips his throat; Mettaton stares at the Ascian's head, lifting his hand to comb through his hair.]

Well. We have plenty of people. [Had, too.] You know that. And I'm not one to shy away from help, Irhya-darling. You know me.

[He cocks a lopsided smile in her direction.]

It's only that... neither of us thought there was anything to help! By the time we realized, I was already beyond my senses. It happened so fast...

[Even though Emet-Selch wasn't mind controlled, Mettaton had already discussed with him what the reason was there. It was complicated; there was no reason for either of them to reach out under the pretense that all was well, after all.]

How harrowing. [Mettaton grows introspective, gazing vaguely downward, off-camera.] A human more willing to kill their own kind than a monster...

[Well, it's one area for him to contemplate. But then, his experiences in Aefenglom have warmed him up to such a possibility. There were all sorts here, and some of them with a morality juxtaposed to the robot's. He gives Asriel a sort of sad smile.]

And I imagine you must have scared the daylights out of these daylight dwellers. [A pause, reflective.] That's why they attacked, in the end. They felt threatened.

[Not that Asriel and Chara had managed to attack, not yet. It surprises Mettaton to hear that Chara had any sway over Asriel while inhabiting his body, but with a soul so tenacious, what could he expect? Humans are something else. Mettaton nods to express that he knows the rest of the story.]

Just so you know. Many, many years later, we did escape. And... humans didn't receive us so poorly this time! I've found that while most humans are kind, some... are less so.

[Perhaps like the kinds Asriel unfortunately encountered, unless they were just scared; Mettaton is sympathetic toward scared humans, moreso than most monsters might be.]

Hmm... Certainly not outside of the city limits, I'll give you that much. For obvious reasons.

[Mettaton chuckles. Sure, a Puca's best could be shown off that way... but Mettaton's best isn't being a speed demon or something like that. Instead, he brightens up another step, proving it's possible.]

I'm a performer, you know! That would be me at my best... Do you do evenings, darling? Give me a moon or two, give or take, and I'll be positively radiant!! Perhaps I trouble you to engage me with some of your swordplay technique...

[Mettaton sort of blinks off, as though trying to remember where he'd figured out that Red Wine wielded a sword. It just seemed right... Or something. He shrugs.]

Something like that.

[She pauses, considering. If it was a combination of mind control and the Cwyld, it's no wonder he'd think that. It doesn't explain Hades' side of things, but...]

I think that's understandable. Sometimes things that you think aren't problems just creep up on you, I suppose...

[Apparently satisfied enough with that answer, however, she sighs, closing her eyes briefly.]

...It's all right to be upset about it, though. To feel guilty, or that you made a mistake that spiraled out of control. I'd be more worried if you didn't, to be honest.

Oh. If they'd parted us... You're right! I'd just move back in with him. [Mettaton snickers, because he'd absolutely be right back in Emet-Selch's company were they split. If there's any nerve involved, it's simply treating him as an object unworthy of a bed at all. Mettaton would like a bed so that he could decline it and take his Bonded's!

But that's a matter for the past, as Gon veers thoughtful. Mettaton blinks, smile dropping as he gets something of a bad feeling... one that's gradually confirmed.

He begins to nod along in recognition. All of this... Yes, he remembers it with more clarity. It was less the mind control and more the recent death that has his memory muddled. He hums, regarding his own arm—an arm he must have gotten attached. Alphys? Surely, Alphys. (She didn't say anything about it when she came to visit...)]

I... I see. So I was an accessory to his kidnapping. ...

[That was disturbing to consider. Mettaton... knew somehow that the Evergreen Circle was planning to stage a kidnapping. It wasn't something he felt was important to prevent for some reason, and he's not even sure if he actually learned about it at all, or if it was just a Puca sense for some unknown danger. He sighs, gazing down at Emet-Selch.

He knew it was happening because he'd acted upon it in one way only, and that was to prevent his fiancé from being kidnapped by... kidnapping him instead. Turns out this wasn't the only kidnapping he was somehow part of.]

He's right. I was infected... But there was nothing anybody could do to get me cured. [MTT shakes his head no.] I'm glad you found him in the end. Is he alright...?

[He feels guilt. It's the same strange guilt he feels for Emet-Selch's situation, where he can't quite figure out why he'd done that thing in the first place. Such is the power of mind control.]

Um...

[Gon doesn't want to worry Mettaton, but again, he can't be dishonest with him. or most people, really, in most ways.]

He will be. His constitution is crazy! You wouldn't believe some of the stuff he's survived, [Gon says with an earnest lean forward, his eyebrows raising.] He's from a family of assassins! And he was tortured since he was a baby, basically, to build resilience and tolerance... We survived a war together too, kind of, back home.

It's probably gonna be harder for him to get over the feelings of having lost control, and having done something bad. But that'll be okay too.

Killua's always okay [something Gon knows is a lie, but why wouldn't he just gushingly inject the impression that he's indestructible to his peers?], but he'll be especially okay, because I'm here with him!!

So don't worry.

Edited 2021-04-01 02:39 (UTC)

[None of this particularly surprises Mettaton because he knows humans are tenacious. When you live among a race of creatures who could die from hitting them around a little, humans are a formidable, stubborn force to be reckoned with. He nods along, somewhat listening.

Assassins... Tortured since infancy... Wars... Yes. Sounds rough, his nod says. (Give him a moment.)]

I'm sure you'll both be all right in the end, darling. You humans can weather the storm, no matter what elements it surprises you with.

[He smiles warmly. He really does like humanity, and he smiles even wider for Gon's reassurance that he'll stand together.]

And with a cheerleader like you, how could he stay down for long?? But if there's anything I can do for you two, well. I'm bound to be back in action in no time!! Ohhh yes! As a robot.

[He smiles, and it's bright and easy.]

. . . . .

[Mettaton's focus glazes over. His smile drops. His lips part; he raises a pointer finger.]

...Wait. How... How old is—

[Mettaton was just about to ask how old a baby is (to be tortured?????), but not because he doesn't understand babies. He's just suddenly... flabbergasted. He stammers, and his voice is no louder than a mumble when he next speaks.]

So that actually happens to humans... Being treated so horribly...

[The movies and their war-hardened, traumatized human protagonists... are real......]

I'm a vampire. Of course I do evenings.

[And he, too, wonders just how aware of things Mettaton had been when he had been in that feral, infected state. The puca has seen him wearing a sword of course - he's rarely without it - but some people do just decide to wear them as decoration with little knowledge of how to handle one when it's in their hand.

He studies Mettaton for a moment or two, thoughtful.]

If that's what you want, I can give a demonstration.

Oh. No implications of romance here. [He waves a hand, shaking his head.] My own Bonded has had plenty of Bonds for the sake of convenience! One of which, was to Mikasa.

[But when she puts it like this... That puts the timeline into perspective. Maria had a Bonded, and lost it. After losing that one, she finally struck the deal with Eren after his face-off with Soren. It's still... an interesting way to put it, and Mettaton considers Maria's words heavily, rereading them.]

Mana-hungry... Why wouldn't one Witch be enough for a Monster? What gave you the impression that having two would stabilize his starvation for magic?

[What is Mettaton if not a force ever hurdling forward? Still lodged in the present, living each second of his life, but dreaming far and reaching farther. Even without the ears to stand attentive, he clearly wants to know of Midousuji's plans with his life.

—and unprepared for the answer, Mettaton nearly snickers. He bows his head for a second to keep from laughing, but realizes it's too late: he's already shown his humor.]

... Well. It's not everyday that you hear someone fearful of becoming dumber for studying. [So that's what he found humor in.] How interesting! And yet, I hear you loud and clear. You'll embrace your roll as a Witch... but how can you eschew your dreams, no matter what limits our new world imposes?

[There's an animated glint too lively to be synthetic in Mettaton's eye, something that speaks to relating to this idea. Even he won't give up on his dream of becoming a famous star, not in this world or any others. Limited as it is, he'll see himself to full fruition.

Mettaton nods.]

I like it!! Well. If I come up with any ways for you to use your body, and better hone it to your liking in the meantime... I'll let you know, beautiful. I may be a robot, but I'm an active one, when I'm not in a hospital bed!

["Painfully Vague" is right... Mettaton even hums, his only visible eye narrowing a touch and his brow furrowing as his gaze sharpens. But that's a look that dissipates just as quickly: Mettaton's definitely the type to pry...

...But Momo states it clear as crystal that the issue's not one he wants to talk about in public. With a nod, Mettaton closes his eye.]

Ah... I see.

[A Bonded rattled at the mere sight of Momo... Mettaton glances down at the man laid out upon his chest with a touch of transparent sympathy. Perhaps that's the only information he needs: even though it's not the detailed version of the story, it's not as though Mettaton can't relate at all.]

With your obviously cautious approach, there's no way that won't change in the future. I'm rooting for you, gorgeous! [His cheery smile returns.] Were you without such support... No. I'll extend the offer all the same.

You're a friend of Mikasa's, after all. If you ever need somewhere to decompress, I have these magnificent rabbit ears for listening. If even an entertainment robot like me needs a space of respite behind the curtain, a human does, too!

Hmm. .....

[He ruminates over her words. ...Mettaton wonders if he felt guilty, or if he felt he'd made a mistake. Had he made a mistake? He didn't think so. He also doesn't think there's any flaw with his character.

Mettaton is conceited. Arrogant. His decisions over the past weeks had been under the sway of another party; he felt remorse for their deaths and the pain they endured, but he didn't feel either of them had made a mistake. (Was that a flaw? Mettaton decides not to think about it.) But there was something. The core of the issue, the reason Emet-Selch hadn't forced Mettaton to get help, the reason he hadn't taken action. For that, the idol supposed he felt guilt. His eyelid lowers, his expression softening.

With indelible fondness, an impression far rawer than most he's exhibited, his fingers gently crawl through Emet-Selch's hair.]

... When we Bonded, neither of us exchanged vows. We totally broke the rules! Unless you count daring each other to stubbornly endure our personalities, polar opposites that we thought we were... [The Puca snickers.] But later on, as we fell in love, we came up with some.

[He tucks a lock of hair idly behind the Ascian's ear before messing all up again. He doesn't seem to be pretend-sleeping; if he is, he's being convincing.]

Among our vows... we swore to wait for each other, and to catch up if ever we fell behind. To keep each other's stride, figuratively speaking. He almost lost me to the mirrors, you know. And you don't think he took the sight of my soulless march to the Looking-Glass House well, do you? I didn't wait long enough for him to heal from that. I think... I overlooked his heartache, and left him to struggle in his sorrows.

[Mettaton's always been this way, he reflects. Whenever his loved ones languished in ever-present depression or stumbled under the weight of their own troubles, the idol was leaving them in the dust and unwilling to look back. He wasn't the best at waiting.]

So in the week before everyone was kidnapped, I asserted that I wouldn't leave the house. I was stricken sick with dread. Puca senses, you know. Hades had the security of me at home, and, well...

[Mettaton chews on his own admission, wondering how that must register to Irhya. Wondering if this would even make sense to her, now that he's already said it. But the Puca sighs, shaking his head in disbelief at himself.]

Listen to me. That probably doesn't make much sense to you. But, yes. I know I misstepped in our dance.

His words, not my own. Something to the effect of feeling starved of mana, even with the one Witch. Dragons are very mana-aligned creatures. I would not be surprised.

[Or... that he got into something that he shouldn't have.] Or, perhaps, he got used to higher mana amounts with all the fae he was eating.

[Yeah. And she helped by feeding him pixies. So, taking some responsibility. But more than that...]

It was worth a shot, either way. I told him if he did something like that again I'd consider him a threat to the whole city and behead him where he stood.

[With a nod, Mettaton relaxes in his bed, closing his eye for a spell. It's hard to try to overthink where he may have figured that out... SO he chooses not to think too hard about it.]

Fabulous. I'm a robot totally without his weaponry... It couldn't hurt to learn. And besides. Lots of plays around here, have roles involving swordplay!! [yeaahhhh mettaton wants to learn authentic swordplay for possible SHOW, AMAZING] Well! We'll both look forward to that, then. Take care of yourself, gorgeous! And I'll do the same.

[Momo manages to maintain his faintly smiling face, but he wouldn't be shocked if someone managed to figure him out. He was far from the only person brainwashed, even if not all of them ended up in exactly the same positions from it, and Mettaton having it happen himself just makes it all the more likely.

That said, while they might've shared that experience, Momo is absolutely horrific at accepting help from anyone. So he waves a hand casually, as if to say it'll be alright.]

I appreciate the offer for sure! But everyone's got so much of their own to be dealing with, and I think I'll be alright as things move on. It's just one of those things that takes a little time and distance, you know?

[What he needs to be able to approach the people he wronged without feeling bad about reopening fresh wounds. Right now, he pulls himself back up to full idol charisma, offering a shining, cutesy grin and a wink as he holds a hand to his heart.] I'll take that support to heart, though. Momo-chan gets his power from that sort of thing!

[He's a classic extrovert, so he gets energy from others in general, really.]

[She's slow to put two and two together, reasoning it out loud.]

You agreed to stay in the house... but you got sick...

[Ah.

Her ears tick up the moment recognition hits... and then she groans, burying her eyes against his shoulder.]

Ugh... you two. Well, hopefully the lesson here is that merely escaping the problem isn't always the solution. Sometimes the painful truths are the ones we need to hear.

[Though that seems to be his default mode of coping, escapism. Living in the past, where things are comfortable for him. And to be fair, eternity is a heavy, heavy burden when everyone around you withers like a sick flower barely a century in...]

I guess I understand that much, since it is like I said with problems creeping up on you. But given what happened to Amaurot, there's a lot of parallels that must be uncomfortable. [Then, quieter:] Not to mention what probably happened to Azem...

Hmmm.

[Belatedly, Mettaton nods, lost in thought. Settled back comfortably, staring at the dark, warm hair of the man laying under the covers with him; tousling it idly, thinking about painful truths. The things he always liked to glance away from, hoping they'd smooth over. He did have much to improve upon still... Though Mettaton gives himself credit, thinking he's gotten better at it.

(And yet he hasn't even told his cousin who he is. When has he done better than averting his gaze?)

Lost in thought, Irhya's words fall upon his ears as though in queue for being processed. Amaurot; Emet-Selch's fear of loss. And to nearly lose someone he's met in a cross-dimensional pocket like Geardagas of all places, it was no small wonder it plagued him the way it did. This isn't news to Mettaton; he only knows he needs to do better on keeping Emet-Selch's pace.

—Mettaton's ears would rise in recognition, if they weren't so damaged.]

Azem? [Excitably, he repeats the name like it's definitely not the first time he's heard it. But it's clear this is a new context for him.] How do you know them? Then again... [He snorts, rolling his eyes.] I wonder if I should even ask.

[Affectionately, disdainfully; Mettaton feels he has a peculiar relationship to his friend. His friend, Azem. ...Emet-Selch has never mentioned Azem by name to Mettaton, though he's described them before. Mettaton hasn't had enough time between revival and now to analyze his own memories.

...The oddest thing that slowly creeps up on him is that Mettaton can't quite remember many details about his friend. It's discombobulating.]

[The dawning of slow realization. Her features take on an odd sort of questioning slant.]

...Eh?

[That... shouldn't be. Right? Unless somehow Mettaton managed to visit Amaurot...

(Then again, it's him, so maybe it'd be foolish to discount the possibility right away.)]

I should be asking you that. Azem was from Amaurot. Their soul has been sundered for thousands of years now. You didn't pick this up from Hades or anything, did you? I know memories can cross over sometimes when the bond's really deep...

. . . . . I'm not following, darling. You think...

[He laughs, just once. Breathy. There's genuine surprise to his wide eyes.]

No. Hades has never said anything about an Azem. But I have a friend named Azem! [He nods, confident.] What a coincidence!

[So much Mettaton doesn't know, so much he thinks he knows.]

Azem is... [Why is he blanking so much on their appearance, their job, their other traits? This is his friend.] They went through a maddening ordeal, enough to have me risking my... [mettaton.exe has crashed. "Office," he's about to say. But he springs back up.] My career! Just to give you an example. [The only one he can recall, for some reason, he doesn't say.] They were always quite the nuisance. But I like that about them. Ha-ha.

[Mettaton settles back for a moment, reflective. He thinks about the memory he has. About the particular dynamic he shared with this cheery soul, though he felt himself strangely testy... Which is fine. Mettaton can be a lot of things, he decides. (The city, the souls... Those were also somehow fine. Who would doubt the legitimacy of their own memories?)]

Mettaton...

[A perfect mirror of Hades' feelings toward Azem, too... what happened to cause it? Now she's just burning with curiosity, especially when Hades has apparently not said a word of Azem to Mettaton, of all people.]

I know this because I'm one of Azem's sundered shards. And I have something that used to belong to them... or should have belonged to them, anyway.

[She pulls the sun crystal from her pocket and shows it to him. It's a replica, but a replica by the original creator is just as legitimate as far as she's concerned.]

I'm not purposely trying to confuse you, I promise. But if you have one of his memories, does this mean he has some of yours, too? And so deeply ingrained...

[It would take some clarification, but he's certainly talked about Azem. Not using their title, but he knew more about Azem than he realizes.

But in this moment, Azem is his friend. Irhya talks about being a sundered shard of them, which is... somewhat difficult for Mettaton to comprehend, save for a conversation he recalls having about the people of Eorzea. The fact that all people were fractured pieces of souls from an ancient race, that much, he understood. That much checks out. And he realizes that she's trying to imply that Emet-Selch has memories of his Azem, and that Irhya is a piece of that person...

(That would take a bit of process in itself. But Mettaton's living moment to moment.)

A crystal. He doesn't recognize it. And then she says it: this is supposedly one of Emet-Selch's memories. The confusion is palpable both in his aura and on his face, fixing his attention with a knit brow on the crystal like it's supposed to mean something.]

No... I've seen his memories. This one, it's mine. [He shakes his head no. The fact that he's bristling at all suggests that his sureness isn't absolute.] When I see his memories, I see him in them. But Hades isn't in my memories, silly. It's just me and Azem! [He nods with a short-lived smile.] Sitting before a beautiful view of a... city. [Amaurot. ...He'd be sweating if he could, but he just stutters.] I... had no idea we had a friend with the same name! Or is that their title.....?

[Their office. Mettaton's eye widens in shock again. Purposely or not, he's deeply confused.]

I... But... This is my memory, Irhya. I remember it so clearly! It's me in that memory, my voice and my body! [Which is another bizarre contradiction, he realizes: he hasn't had this body for long, but this memory felt like it was in the past, in his earlier years.] The... mesmerizing sight of souls, twinkling against the dawn. We can both see souls, Hades and I. But the city... I lived Underground for my whole life.

[LORD. mettaton.exe keeps on crashin. The very thought that this isn't his memory (and there are a lot of contradictions cropping up), and that Emet-Selch might have some of his...]

If that is true... then you would surely be able to see that my soul is the same color.

[It's probably a lot to process if he truly thinks it his, which explains the confusion and bristling and attempts to work it out. How can she get through to him without wreaking havoc on him? She collects his hands from behind and holds them in a tight grip, possibly trying to encourage him to calm down.]

Mettaton, something happened through the bond to make it seem that way to you, though I don't know what. Perhaps it might be best to talk to Hades about it when he wakes up to see if he has any ideas, but for now, those contradictions are there for a reason. I suspect you're only in the memory because it was borrowed from someone else's perspective...

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 6 of 7

video; un: METTATON

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/2 god, GON

2/2

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject