[Truthfully, seeing Pokey's head instead of inferring what it looked like had...made Mettaton's resolve stiffen, and if he had a stomach, it would probably be churning.
Rotting flesh is...not something he's terribly fond of seeing, he realizes.]
I once had to see a small pile of my corpses before. Seeing the head isn't much. I was more worried about Asriel seeing it than anything.
Not really. So he's kind of a jackass. So what. If the guy actually hurt me I'd understand it more, but he's just being a dick. There's no point killing him over it.
Yeah I did and when I did I fucked things up for everyone.
Will you please listen to me. What are you going to do when this just escalates into more and more violence. Are you just going to kill everyone? Do you think some of the people are just going to stop at targeting you? The freak with the head actually might because I don't know if he really gives a damn, but there is bound to be someone in this town willing to get that mean.
I wish I had stopped myself from doing something stupid. Do you really not get that? Nothing good is going to come from just doing whatever you want here.
I'm not saying you can't be angry. It's fine you're angry. You don't need to grovel. You can be angry all you want.
What I'm saying is we can't just keep destroying each other, let alone when someone isn't even threatening you. Yeah. He's an asshole. It's not great that he's an asshole but killing him isn't going to bring about anything good.
You don't need to apologize to me. You really don't.
Look. I've kind of spent my entire time here overreacting and overreacting and defending myself when there was nothing trying to get me. And then I fucked up bad enough there should have been, and people are still defending me. I dunno. I'm tired of it.
Let people say what they want. Do whatever they want with my corpse or whatever if it's just that funny to them. It's not that I think I deserve it.
It's that I'm tired of defending myself all the time. Fuck it. I pretty much want to just keep walking and helping where I can at this point since they're willing to still let me.
I don't want to see you just keep getting caught up in this swarm of violence because of this or because you think you have to.
I WISH I COULD SAY THAT I CAN KEEP TRYING TO IMPROVE. THAT THINGS WILL GET BETTER OVER TIME. BUT I THINK I HAVE PROVEN TIME AND TIME AGAIN THAT SUCH THINGS ARE NOT ACHIEVABLE FOR ME.
[Mettaton very strongly considers telling Pokey what else he'd said on that board. That he wanted to die. And that he wished he could faciitate it. To Asriel, no less.
But he doesn't have the courage to say it with his face attached to it.]
I think you're wrong. I dunno. Maybe a part of it is who you are. I'm not going to tell you who you are and hey. I dunno. Maybe I'm overstepping bounds by even talking to you about this.
I can't say things will get better over time. All we can do is try.
Look if you need to talk about anything at all, I'm here. Alright?
[Okay so how does he bring this up without it being super awkward. Like he could be really wrong about this and he doesn't really want Mettaton to know he had a conversation with someone about smashing his own gem.
[He doesn't mind if Asriel comes over, either. But saying it right now required more effort than he had the strength to exert at this point. He didn't want things to turn out this way.
[Likewise, Asriel also doesn't have the energy to put more effort into his response. Doesn't matter anyway, since he's busy trying to think of what to say when he gets to Mettaton's house.
Asriel arrives a few minutes later... and still isn't sure what to say. He's such an idiot. Why didn't he watch what he said?
... Why didn't he realize sooner how much Mettaton was struggling?
[Asriel had thought of so many ways to start this conversation, none of them sounding all that good. A conversation was going to be awkward and messy. And it was going to hurt.
But they can't leave it sit. Asriel refuses to let Mettaton to become a Nightmare.]
... I'm sorry.
I didn't know. I was so wrapped up with what was going on in my own head, I...
[For a moment, the robot is silent. Yeah...this is going to be a poor conversation.]
...You've been through a lot. What you've experienced is not to be invalidated by my troubles.
And...I wasn't being forthcoming with it. When I said it on the board, I just...I suppose I thought it would be better, because no one would know who it was, and even if they did, everyone here has cold hearts; they wouldn't worry about me. They've never worried about me.
I think more people worry than you think. [Dirk comes to mind. And of course, there's him and Pokey.] But there are a lot of people with cold hearts here and...
They're honestly not important. I care more about you and Pokey than I do all of them combined.
But it's... hard, I know it can be hard, to keep going in a world that doesn't care if you exist or not.
[He's been forgotten. He's been replaced. He's watched his own mother fawn over human children like he and Chara never existed.]
It's hard to find reasons to keep going sometimes.
[Mettaton smiles, but it looks so exhausted as he walks from the door to the gaudy couch in his home. Rather than sit though, he just runs a gloved hand over one of the couch's arms. He's faced away from Asriel when he speaks again.]
Pokey messaged me before you, telling me not to make a foolish decision in attacking Dito. That...that was also me, just so you know. Despite what Pokey says, I will probably still make the decision based in violence.
And you? I told you pretty words about how you ought to keep trying. When I...
[Asriel wants to be encouraging, he wants to tell Mettaton not to give up... but it doesn't mean anything, when Asriel told him that he wants to shatter his own gem and just. Stop fighting.
Mettaton needs someone to help push him forward, but Asriel's not the right person for the job, as much as he'd like to be. He's too broken. He never came back right. Every day he thinks he's a little closer to losing himself... a little closer to becoming Flowey again.]
... I think trying to hurt Dito is going to end up hurting you more instead of him.
[Monsters aren't meant for this kind of thing. He's seen it in the way Mettaton broke down over the mirrors, what he's said over the bulletin boards.]
Can I ask why you wanna fight him so much? Is it just the pictures he posted of someone's head?
[For a while, Mettaton debates with himself on whether he should tell Asriel. After all, a child's curiosity is difficult to suppress.
He'd find out somewhere else...wouldn't he? And even if no one else would tell him, then that doesn't color Mettaton's impression. He's just a bad person for saying it then.]
It was Pokey's head. He told it to me over the mirrors, back when I was watching over your soul gem.
[The robot sits at last, and he brings a hand up to cover his face.]
Think how long it's been since then.
He posted a recent picture.
[Mettaton shudders in disgust.]
I promised to kill him then...I'm going to uphold that promise. Why should he get away with it? Why is he allowed to display a rotting trophy of someone in this goddamned city who has been here for longer than he has?
What the hell makes him so much better than me?
[The pain in Mettaton's tone is raw and impossible to hide. Why was it that he, Pokey, and Asriel were little more than refuse in the face of murderers, painbringers, and worse?!]
[Asriel's voice is quiet, shaking slightly as what Mettaton says sinks in. He doesn't want to, but he visualizes it. Someone playing with Pokey's dismembered head, probably feeling superior that he has a disgusting trophy of one of the "unforgivable murderers".
Asriel's breath quickens, trying to fight down panic and disgust. It doesn't work. All he can think about is Pokey breaking down in front of him crying, and someone was playing with his head like this was all some kind of game, like they were all toys to be broken and thrown away because the town had declared them as the bad guys and-]
H... ha... haha... hahahaaa...
[Asriel can't help himself. He lets out a choked laugh. Broken and high pitched.]
You know what? I think someone like that really does deserve to die!
[What an awful thing for Asriel to say, isn't it? Well, he was awful all along, so obviously that was fine!]
[His voice is higher, almost cheerful than what could even be considered natural. The memory of a village passes through his mind, him holding the body of his human sibling...
And villagers, seeing a monster and attacking him on sight. All because he must've killed that child, he's a monster! Monsters killing humans deserve to die, whether they actually did it or not!
It's so funny, it makes him want to laugh! It's so funny!]
Because when a monster hurts a human, they deserve to be beaten to death! Isn't that how it is? Because if we're not nice and doing whatever humans tell us to do, that means we deserve to die right? Right?! Hahaha, so many years have passed and I can't believe nothing's changed! Isn't that funny? Haha, hahahahaa!
Even in our home, we were never meant to be left alone. Everyone died. Everyone up to and including Hotland died, do you know how insane that is?
[Mettaton can't...he can't laugh like Asriel. Because it really does hurt, and all of this feeds back into how useless his wish was, how much he missed everyone and how very little they probably missed him.
It's not dignified for a grown monster to cry...and yet here he is, his face buried in his gloved hands, sobbing at the injustice of it. The most gallng part was that he couldn't even physically cry. He could only make the noises and feel the utter despair of it all.]
[Everyone up and including to Hotland died. Including his mother, cut down ruthlessly by a child she poured so much love into. Every monster slaughtered, and there was no one to mourn for them but the two monsters here.
Because it didn't matter that every monster in the Underground died because of a human.
It didn't matter that humans imprisoned all of monsterkind Underground,
... It didn't matter when humans saw a grieving child, who wanted to see the sun for the first time.
The death of a human was enough to cut down a monster though. To beat them to death, shoot them with arrows while they plead for them to stop, that he wasn't a murderer...
Mettaton can't cry, but Asriel can. And kneeling down in front of Mettaton, he does. It hurts, and it's a kind of hurt that no one but the two of them will ever understand.]
[Mettaton can't even find it in his heart to comfort the kid. This time...he can't. He's got himself to worry about.
Or...
Not worry about. Because what he'd said on the board was true.
He didn't want to keep trying. He wanted to stop. He wanted this to end. He wanted to die. Even if it hurt, and even if it accomplished nothing, he just wanted it all to end.
His soul gem darkens a shade just from that very thought. Ah, but he's used to that anyway. It's fine. Let it come.]
[Asriel tried! He's done nothing but try ever since he made that contract with Kyubey. Doing whatever anyone asked of him, always trying to make the "good" and "right" decisions, keeping up the act of an innocent child because that's what everyone wanted...
But now? He was just a murderer. He was unforgivable. He was still a "bad person". And if anyone in this town really knew what all he's done, beyond what happened with those girls...
Well, he'd die right? Maybe not for all the monster slaughter, who cares about that, but he's killed a human a bunch of times. They'd probably beat him to death right on the spot, haha!
They'd probably do the same to Mettaton too, knowing that he tried to attack that same human - nevermind that human was slaughtering all of them or completely betrayed Asriel by saving him, only to RESET and murder everyone in their path.]
I wasted so much time believing in humans...a waste of a life. A waste of affection. I'm just...a wasted caricature. Better off a ghost after all, huh? Hah...but I was selfish and threw away everything for that dream. It's only fair to have it appropriately dashed for setting stock in a heartless species...
I don't want to be a magi anymore. I don't want to help people who are probably lying.
DO YOU NEED ME TO COME OVER? WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS, AND FIGURE IT OUT TOGETHER. I ASSURE YOU THAT I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE ELSE BUT TO YOUR SIDE IF YOU NEED ME.
[And he intends to keep that promise, because Asriel sure could use some stability. They both could, but...Mettaton's heart is beginning to harden to all that has happened. He's...learning to cope. And he doesn't want to think about how that's possible, and the connotations of distancing yourself...
Either way, he's over to Asriel's house in minutes, knocking on the door firmly to announce his presence.]
[Mettaton's reaction is immediate. He moves closer and reaches to take hold of one of Asriel's small hands in his own.]
Asriel, honey...maybe we should sit and talk about things. Do you think that would be alright with you?
[He asks it gently. He knows that...if Pokey's gone, then Asriel is going to be suffering for the loss of his friend. That is something Mettaton can understand.]
[Asriel squeezes the hand, to assure himself that it's real. That this right now is real. That he isn't going to look up and suddenly he'll be completely alone.]
I... um, o-okay. We can't talk for long, okay? I gotta find him... there's some places I didn't look yet and he might be there.
We can look for him in a little while. Come, come.
[Mettaton's voice is still soft, and he lets himself in, tugging carefully at Asriel's arm. He's not going to force. He's not going to pry. At least...he won't pry yet.
He does at least close the door after he comes in. No one needs to see Asriel in this state but him. They're friends...this was Mettaton's responsibility.]
Just focus on something simple and natural, like breathing. Don't forget that. And don't forget I'm here.
[Things he'd say to his cousin, even though Blooky couldn't breathe. Sometimes the rhythm helps calm. Not always...but sometimes.]
[Asriel follows him, but despite Mettaton's advice, there's an aching sense of dread in his chest. What was he going to do if Pokey was really...
No. No. He hasn't even looked for him yet, he can't give up.
Asriel tries to anchor himself by breathing in and out, focusing on the hand in his and using that to ground himself to reality. He keeps looking up, like he's constantly double-checking to see if Mettaton is still there.]
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Text
1/2
POKEY LOOK. I'M GOING TO KILL HIM. THAT'S NOT GOING TO CHANGE.
I'M SORRY THAT IT'S NOT GOING TO TURN OUT ANY DIFFERENTLY, BUT I HAVE GONE PAST THE POINT OF CARING. I WILL NOT CONTINUE TO BE ANTAGONIZED!
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WHY AREN'T YOU MORE UPSET???
DOESN'T IT BOTHER YOU?
[Truthfully, seeing Pokey's head instead of inferring what it looked like had...made Mettaton's resolve stiffen, and if he had a stomach, it would probably be churning.
Rotting flesh is...not something he's terribly fond of seeing, he realizes.]
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Not really. So he's kind of a jackass. So what. If the guy actually hurt me I'd understand it more, but he's just being a dick. There's no point killing him over it.
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THIS.
I WANT THIS. IT'S ONE OF THE ONLY THINGS I WANT. JUST LET ME HAVE IT.
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Will you please listen to me. What are you going to do when this just escalates into more and more violence. Are you just going to kill everyone? Do you think some of the people are just going to stop at targeting you? The freak with the head actually might because I don't know if he really gives a damn, but there is bound to be someone in this town willing to get that mean.
What you do isn't going to just affect you here.
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BUT I GUESS THE ONLY PART I'M SEEING HERE IS THAT I'M THE ONLY ONE DISALLOWED TO DO ANYTHING STUPID.
DID IT ONCE, BRANDED FOR MY ENTIRE TENURE HERE, SO NOW WHAT? NOW I JUST GROVEL FOR THE REST OF MY TIME HERE BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY THING I CAN DO.
I CAN'T BE ANGRY.
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I'm not saying you can't be angry. It's fine you're angry. You don't need to grovel. You can be angry all you want.
What I'm saying is we can't just keep destroying each other, let alone when someone isn't even threatening you. Yeah. He's an asshole. It's not great that he's an asshole but killing him isn't going to bring about anything good.
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I TRULY AM SORRY.
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Look. I've kind of spent my entire time here overreacting and overreacting and defending myself when there was nothing trying to get me. And then I fucked up bad enough there should have been, and people are still defending me. I dunno. I'm tired of it.
Let people say what they want. Do whatever they want with my corpse or whatever if it's just that funny to them. It's not that I think I deserve it.
It's that I'm tired of defending myself all the time. Fuck it. I pretty much want to just keep walking and helping where I can at this point since they're willing to still let me.
I don't want to see you just keep getting caught up in this swarm of violence because of this or because you think you have to.
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IT'S JUST WHO I AM, YOU KNOW.
I WISH I COULD SAY THAT I CAN KEEP TRYING TO IMPROVE. THAT THINGS WILL GET BETTER OVER TIME. BUT I THINK I HAVE PROVEN TIME AND TIME AGAIN THAT SUCH THINGS ARE NOT ACHIEVABLE FOR ME.
[Mettaton very strongly considers telling Pokey what else he'd said on that board. That he wanted to die. And that he wished he could faciitate it. To Asriel, no less.
But he doesn't have the courage to say it with his face attached to it.]
I'M TIRED. I THINK I'M GOING TO LAY DOWN.
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I can't say things will get better over time. All we can do is try.
Look if you need to talk about anything at all, I'm here. Alright?
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BUT YOU CAN TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT. WE ARE FRIENDS, RIGHT?
[He probably presumes too much, of course. Pokey is Asriel's friend.]
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You're not getting rid of me.
Case that isn't clear enough? Yeah. We're friends Mettaton. I promise.
text
Maybe he should... start simple, for now.]
hey mettaton
just checking in to see how you were doing
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[Nope. No he's not. That response took a long time.]
1/2
A lot of weird stuff got said over that bulletin board, huh?
[......]
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Mettaton.
Was that you I was talking to when I brought up my soul gem?
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i didn't know it was you.
i shouldn't have said any of it.
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[Well, he did mean it. Didn't he? And this whole time, Asriel had been absorbed in his own problems while Mettaton wanted to die.]
i think maybe we shouldn't talk about this over text, maybe it'd be better to talk in person.
are you home?
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[He doesn't mind if Asriel comes over, either. But saying it right now required more effort than he had the strength to exert at this point. He didn't want things to turn out this way.
And now that they had, he's just...tired.]
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[Likewise, Asriel also doesn't have the energy to put more effort into his response. Doesn't matter anyway, since he's busy trying to think of what to say when he gets to Mettaton's house.
Asriel arrives a few minutes later... and still isn't sure what to say. He's such an idiot. Why didn't he watch what he said?
... Why didn't he realize sooner how much Mettaton was struggling?
Asriel gives the door a knock.]
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He'd been waiting. And...he doesn't look at Asriel.]
So.
[So what? God, what does he say?]
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But they can't leave it sit. Asriel refuses to let Mettaton to become a Nightmare.]
... I'm sorry.
I didn't know. I was so wrapped up with what was going on in my own head, I...
I didn't know you were hurting like that.
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...You've been through a lot. What you've experienced is not to be invalidated by my troubles.
And...I wasn't being forthcoming with it. When I said it on the board, I just...I suppose I thought it would be better, because no one would know who it was, and even if they did, everyone here has cold hearts; they wouldn't worry about me. They've never worried about me.
[Except Pokey. And Asriel.]
It's better that way.
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They're honestly not important. I care more about you and Pokey than I do all of them combined.
But it's... hard, I know it can be hard, to keep going in a world that doesn't care if you exist or not.
[He's been forgotten. He's been replaced. He's watched his own mother fawn over human children like he and Chara never existed.]
It's hard to find reasons to keep going sometimes.
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And look what I do to rebuke them.
[Mettaton smiles, but it looks so exhausted as he walks from the door to the gaudy couch in his home. Rather than sit though, he just runs a gloved hand over one of the couch's arms. He's faced away from Asriel when he speaks again.]
Pokey messaged me before you, telling me not to make a foolish decision in attacking Dito. That...that was also me, just so you know. Despite what Pokey says, I will probably still make the decision based in violence.
And you? I told you pretty words about how you ought to keep trying. When I...
I don't wish to try anymore.
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... I think that makes two of us, then.
[Asriel wants to be encouraging, he wants to tell Mettaton not to give up... but it doesn't mean anything, when Asriel told him that he wants to shatter his own gem and just. Stop fighting.
Mettaton needs someone to help push him forward, but Asriel's not the right person for the job, as much as he'd like to be. He's too broken. He never came back right. Every day he thinks he's a little closer to losing himself... a little closer to becoming Flowey again.]
... I think trying to hurt Dito is going to end up hurting you more instead of him.
[Monsters aren't meant for this kind of thing. He's seen it in the way Mettaton broke down over the mirrors, what he's said over the bulletin boards.]
Can I ask why you wanna fight him so much? Is it just the pictures he posted of someone's head?
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He'd find out somewhere else...wouldn't he? And even if no one else would tell him, then that doesn't color Mettaton's impression. He's just a bad person for saying it then.]
It was Pokey's head. He told it to me over the mirrors, back when I was watching over your soul gem.
[The robot sits at last, and he brings a hand up to cover his face.]
Think how long it's been since then.
He posted a recent picture.
[Mettaton shudders in disgust.]
I promised to kill him then...I'm going to uphold that promise. Why should he get away with it? Why is he allowed to display a rotting trophy of someone in this goddamned city who has been here for longer than he has?
What the hell makes him so much better than me?
[The pain in Mettaton's tone is raw and impossible to hide. Why was it that he, Pokey, and Asriel were little more than refuse in the face of murderers, painbringers, and worse?!]
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[Asriel's voice is quiet, shaking slightly as what Mettaton says sinks in. He doesn't want to, but he visualizes it. Someone playing with Pokey's dismembered head, probably feeling superior that he has a disgusting trophy of one of the "unforgivable murderers".
Asriel's breath quickens, trying to fight down panic and disgust. It doesn't work. All he can think about is Pokey breaking down in front of him crying, and someone was playing with his head like this was all some kind of game, like they were all toys to be broken and thrown away because the town had declared them as the bad guys and-]
H... ha... haha... hahahaaa...
[Asriel can't help himself. He lets out a choked laugh. Broken and high pitched.]
You know what? I think someone like that really does deserve to die!
[What an awful thing for Asriel to say, isn't it? Well, he was awful all along, so obviously that was fine!]
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No, he's shaking his head because...he agrees and he finds it disgusting.]
And yet we are the ones that die. Because of two girls. Because of my foolish decision, yes, but willful desecration...that's fine. It's okay.
[Mettaton laughs a little too, but it comes out choked and painful.]
"Quit starting trouble, Mettaton, you're going to make everything worse." That's all they care about...everyone.
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[His voice is higher, almost cheerful than what could even be considered natural. The memory of a village passes through his mind, him holding the body of his human sibling...
And villagers, seeing a monster and attacking him on sight. All because he must've killed that child, he's a monster! Monsters killing humans deserve to die, whether they actually did it or not!
It's so funny, it makes him want to laugh! It's so funny!]
Because when a monster hurts a human, they deserve to be beaten to death! Isn't that how it is? Because if we're not nice and doing whatever humans tell us to do, that means we deserve to die right? Right?! Hahaha, so many years have passed and I can't believe nothing's changed! Isn't that funny? Haha, hahahahaa!
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Even in our home, we were never meant to be left alone. Everyone died. Everyone up to and including Hotland died, do you know how insane that is?
[Mettaton can't...he can't laugh like Asriel. Because it really does hurt, and all of this feeds back into how useless his wish was, how much he missed everyone and how very little they probably missed him.
It's not dignified for a grown monster to cry...and yet here he is, his face buried in his gloved hands, sobbing at the injustice of it. The most gallng part was that he couldn't even physically cry. He could only make the noises and feel the utter despair of it all.]
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Because it didn't matter that every monster in the Underground died because of a human.
It didn't matter that humans imprisoned all of monsterkind Underground,
... It didn't matter when humans saw a grieving child, who wanted to see the sun for the first time.
The death of a human was enough to cut down a monster though. To beat them to death, shoot them with arrows while they plead for them to stop, that he wasn't a murderer...
Mettaton can't cry, but Asriel can. And kneeling down in front of Mettaton, he does. It hurts, and it's a kind of hurt that no one but the two of them will ever understand.]
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Or...
Not worry about. Because what he'd said on the board was true.
He didn't want to keep trying. He wanted to stop. He wanted this to end. He wanted to die. Even if it hurt, and even if it accomplished nothing, he just wanted it all to end.
His soul gem darkens a shade just from that very thought. Ah, but he's used to that anyway. It's fine. Let it come.]
I never wanted this.
1/2
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We didn't deserve this...
[Asriel tried! He's done nothing but try ever since he made that contract with Kyubey. Doing whatever anyone asked of him, always trying to make the "good" and "right" decisions, keeping up the act of an innocent child because that's what everyone wanted...
But now? He was just a murderer. He was unforgivable. He was still a "bad person". And if anyone in this town really knew what all he's done, beyond what happened with those girls...
Well, he'd die right? Maybe not for all the monster slaughter, who cares about that, but he's killed a human a bunch of times. They'd probably beat him to death right on the spot, haha!
They'd probably do the same to Mettaton too, knowing that he tried to attack that same human - nevermind that human was slaughtering all of them or completely betrayed Asriel by saving him, only to RESET and murder everyone in their path.]
Chara was right.
They were right about humanity this whole time.
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I wasted so much time believing in humans...a waste of a life. A waste of affection. I'm just...a wasted caricature. Better off a ghost after all, huh? Hah...but I was selfish and threw away everything for that dream. It's only fair to have it appropriately dashed for setting stock in a heartless species...
I don't want to be a magi anymore. I don't want to help people who are probably lying.
[He doesn't want to help himself.]
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Always the crybaby, wasn't he?]
You couldn't have known. It's... different, on the surface. I thought maybe things had changed but, haha...
[Frisk certainly proved him wrong there.]
I don't want to fight anymore either.
Text 5/30, evening 1/2
And another text, sent almost immediately after
please don't leave me too
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DO YOU NEED ME TO COME OVER? WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS, AND FIGURE IT OUT TOGETHER. I ASSURE YOU THAT I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE ELSE BUT TO YOUR SIDE IF YOU NEED ME.
[This? This Mettaton is used to. This he can do.]
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But no, he did need Mettaton here.]
yes. please?
im going to keep trying to call pokey i gotta keep trying ill let you know if i can get ahold of him
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[And he intends to keep that promise, because Asriel sure could use some stability. They both could, but...Mettaton's heart is beginning to harden to all that has happened. He's...learning to cope. And he doesn't want to think about how that's possible, and the connotations of distancing yourself...
Either way, he's over to Asriel's house in minutes, knocking on the door firmly to announce his presence.]
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H-howdy Mettaton...
I...
I couldn't get ahold of him yet, b-but I haven't given up yet so...
[He's not gone yet. He can't be.
It can't happen again.
He can't be left alone again.]
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Asriel, honey...maybe we should sit and talk about things. Do you think that would be alright with you?
[He asks it gently. He knows that...if Pokey's gone, then Asriel is going to be suffering for the loss of his friend. That is something Mettaton can understand.]
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I... um, o-okay. We can't talk for long, okay? I gotta find him... there's some places I didn't look yet and he might be there.
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[Mettaton's voice is still soft, and he lets himself in, tugging carefully at Asriel's arm. He's not going to force. He's not going to pry. At least...he won't pry yet.
He does at least close the door after he comes in. No one needs to see Asriel in this state but him. They're friends...this was Mettaton's responsibility.]
Just focus on something simple and natural, like breathing. Don't forget that. And don't forget I'm here.
[Things he'd say to his cousin, even though Blooky couldn't breathe. Sometimes the rhythm helps calm. Not always...but sometimes.]
no subject
No. No. He hasn't even looked for him yet, he can't give up.
Asriel tries to anchor himself by breathing in and out, focusing on the hand in his and using that to ground himself to reality. He keeps looking up, like he's constantly double-checking to see if Mettaton is still there.]
I... o-okay... don't go anywhere, ok?