aefenglom | 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!

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[Asriel covers his mouth for a moment, realizing what he just let out about himself. But... maybe he can talk about himself without having to reveal anything about Flowey.]

I was kidnapped, but... that's not when I died. I died a while back, before I ever got here. And there was no revival for that.

[This is just one blow after another, and for all that Mettaton doesn't especially know Asriel as anything other than a fan of his, he's capable of compassion for the small monster. Sympathy, empathy. First: Asriel was kidnapped, and Mettaton can only wonder what he endured...

(A year ago, the robot had been kidnapped, too. He won't forget it, even though he put it in the past. It was terrible.)

But moreover, he focuses on something else. Asriel died a while back... It couldn't have been long since MTT assume dhis body, though. Falling down is capricious like that, isn't it?]

I... I see. You mean... you're not even alive back home, are you? [Mettaton has yet to connect Asriel's name to royalty. Not quite.] I had no idea. For a fan of mine to die so young... Unbelievable. [There wouldn't be a revival for that. There was just no way.

But he noticed how the other monster clasped a hand over his mouth, of course, and wonders if it's because he doesn't want to talk about it. That won't stop MTT from asking, his voice hushed so he doesn't wake his sleeping companion.] What happened? You can tell me, darling.

It's... a long story.

[His ears drop, not really wanting to recount Chara's death. All the while, he's not realizing the mistakes he's making in his own story. If he revealed how he died, he certainly would've been dead long before Mettaton's rise to fame.]

I mean, you're the one who died. You don't have to listen to my whole backstory...

[Mettaton nearly snorts, and he doesn't have the arms nor the chance to cover up his smile.]

All the more reason to listen to the stories of my viewers! Laid up like this, I don't have much else I can do with my time. I could stream to the network a single shot of my beautiful face, just reclining here... However, the sepia of these cameras doesn't do me justice.

[Typical Average Mettaton. The silly smile returns to something more serious.]

A long story, you say. I'd be surprised if I didn't know of it already, then. Right? I'm sure it wouldn't take much to jog my memory. If you want to.

[There weren't that many monsters. If someone as young as Asriel turned to dust, he feels like he would've heard about it. From Shyren's sister to Snowrake's mother, it was hard to avoid hearing news. There's no doubt toward Asriel, just curiosity.]

[It's in that moment Asriel realizes his mistake. He could continue to lie, make up some story about how he was sick. He could probably win Mettaton's sympathy that way - a young viewer who "fell down" at an early age.

But is that the person he really wants to be? More lies on top of lies? He has the chance to become whoever he wants here... even if that means Mettaton won't like him anymore, he... should at least try to become someone better.

Make up for his past mistakes.]

... I died going to the Surface.

I carried my sibling's body across the barrier, to take them home, and was attacked by humans.

[There's more to the story than that, Asriel knows. But he'll wait to see if Mettaton knows what he's talking about.]

[They'd already established before a general timeline. But this... Mettaton thinks, eye rolling to the ceiling as he hums.]

The barrier... the Surface... you...

[This didn't make sense, but he recalls that when Papyrus was here, things ended up quite different Underground. Could it be that Asriel somehow was from yet another timeline? Mettaton's nearly content to think this way—

But something clicks into place. He refocuses on the camera, lips parted and eye wide.]

Wait... Who doesn't know this story??? I— Even a robot like me has been duly schooled on monster history, you know. [He just exclaimed his own thoughts aloud. Mettaton blinks again. Of course monsterkind should know of the fall of the prince and the fallen human!] Asriel! I KNEW I recognized that name from somewhere! King Asgore... He's not very creative with his names, is he? Ahaha...

[As he talks, Mettaton's shock and surprise turns into a glowing smile. His ears would be emoting all over the place if they weren't so injured.]

So you're... You're the fallen prince, aren't you? I... Oh my god. [Once again, Mettaton's dynamic expressiveness is on full display. Shock returns, something more aghast this time.] You really did cross the barrier with a human soul, then.

[It's not like that could have been disputed, but... it's been so long ago that somehow, it felt that much more unbelievable. Fortunately for Asriel, Mettaton doesn't seem to connect his identity to anything else beyond his death, nor has he found it too strange that Asriel's claimed to be a fan. How could he be a fan when Mettaton was still a ghost when Asriel was alive? (Later, he might consider this contradiction.)]

Yeah... that's me. I crossed the barrier with a human soul. My sibling's soul.

[Which... hurts to say. A lot.]

And as the story goes... I didn't quite make it back.

So that's what you meant by having died before... It was a tragedy felt by all of monsterkind. We... all monsters felt the pain of your loss, I hear.

[Not like a robot as young as him should have been alive. No siree.]

Say... darling. When you took their soul... and you went to the Surface. What did you go there for?

[The story goes that Asriel was only trying to honor Chara's wish to be with the flowers of their village. But monsters don't often know that the soul they take can influence their actions.]

[Asriel goes quiet for a moment.]

We... we were going to break the barrier. By getting the other human souls.

You were...

[Mettaton blinks widely at the lens.]

And you failed. You can't blame a robot for his curiosity, but... What happened, to foil your plans?

{The more he could learn about what happens when a monster takes a human's soul, the better, he thought. Even though monsters know it can happen, they don't know... much else.]

... 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?]

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.]

video; un: METTATON

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