thisavrou_log | Strain this chaos, turn it into light

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Strain this chaos, turn it into light

Who: Toriel & you!
When: July 4th - 6th
Where: Around what's left of the ship.
What: Toriel emerges from death, more than a little confused and agitated. She copes by taking care of what is left of the ship.
Warnings: Talk of death, battle and bloodshed? Also glass children will probably appear.

[A - July 4th]

Waking up in the medbay was something Toriel was not finding particularly enjoyable. The only relief she finds is the fact she isn't tired or injured. She's alive again, somehow. With Curre's assistance, Toriel is back on her feet easily enough.

She saves whatever thoughts she has regarding the battle, the chaos that unfolded upon the ship for later. Whilst she does not have the warmest spot in her soul for the Captains, she can see they're trying. Trying and failing, again and again.

When given the clear, Toriel more than happily leaves the medbay, startled by the sea of glass and people passing her by. She has missed much in the wake of the battle ending.

A gusty, tired "Oh." Escapes her as she surveys the damage. Rooms are gone, the dining hall is now merely an emptied room. Toriel lingers, stunned by the sight. She doesn't realize she's blocking the hallway until someone jostles by her.

"Ah- my apologies." She offers back weakly, gaze briefly moving to the person passing by.

[B - July 5th]

Toriel does what she can to make things easier, gently brushing aside fallen shards of glass from the floor. She is relieved the broom in her grasp is still wooden and solid. She wishes she had some form of dustpan, but finding the broom was already a task in itself.

All the glass makes Toriel wish shoes were an option for herself, but she'll make do. If she can keep the glass to the side out of the main footpath it should be fine.

"Be careful, dear. Something shattered around here." She advises someone approaching, not glancing up from her work. "Step carefully."

[C - July 6th]

Coming to the garden was a mistake. Toriel realizes this immediately when her eyes fall upon the glass sculpture. Before she had thought it was lovely, without context it seemed respectful.

In Memory of Caducus Primary
the glass may reflect images of the past and future

Now it felt like a cruel joke played upon all of those who came after the fall of Caducus. Toriel clenches her fist at her sides, frowning tightly at the sculpture before forcing herself to move on.

Those who walk into the gardens will find her cleaning off the playground equipment she and Peter installed before the battle. The boss monster mutters softly to herself as she works on making sure no glass lay on the plastic surfaces of the playground equipment.

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Never before had Mettaton been so conflicted with seeing a familiar face. On the one hand, he's very happy to see that Toriel's alive again, she's one of the first monsters he's seen since...since he he had come around in the medbay. On the other...he doesn't want to see her this way, and even less does he want to lie to her.

She just never seemed the sort to take that sort of thing without becoming aggravated.

Still, he's been wandering the ship looking for his body and feeling sorry for himself long enough, and having a conversation with someone might improve his mood. So, he quietly approaches the boss monster, making sure to keep within her line of sight and be as visible as he can be, given that he's a ghost.

What should he say? What wouldn't give him away?! Certainly his voice wouldn't, the pitch is too high...

"You're good to do that," he finally says. "Though I don't think any children will be playing here for a while."

The company pulls the boss monster from her work, edging back the irritation she's carrying around. Toriel doesn't want to take out her frustrations on anyone. "Ah- hello." She's surprised at the sight of a ghost monster. When did a ghost arrive?

"It is true- but, it is something I can do for until things settle again and people are well." She dusts her hands across the front of her uniform, "We're all rather fragile at the moment."

"Yes. We are," he replies quietly. It's very uncharacteristic of him, but at least that works to his benefit if he's hiding who he is.

Mettaton's just not used to dying. He didn't know he could, so it's a bit of a downer to know that not only could he die, but that the possibility of losing his body was very high.

"I apologize if I am interrupting. I find the garden is just a lovely place to unwind. Well, if you ignore some of the scenery."

"With time, it will mend." She states softly, her expression sympathetic as she watches the pink ghost. A monster can fall from too much, a monster can fall from sadness so easily. Monsters are so fragile. "Time heals, just as it hurts."

"Ah, it is fine, dear. You need naught worry about interruption. I'm just keeping myself busy really." There isn't much else to do now in the wake of what happened.

Mettaton wasn't sure he would ever appreciate so completely how sweet and sympathetic Toriel really was. But he certainly was now. He was happy that she didn't find him to be a burden at the moment.

"Alright. I'd offer to help, but I don't suppose you brought enough cleaning products for an assistant. And all this glass is terribly small."

It wouldn't hurt him, but it still seems like a bad idea to get covered in glass particles.

Glass dust. Eugh...

"If you don't mind my asking, darling...have you seen any other monsters around?" he asks. It seemed such an inappropriate question, but Mettaton is just very impatient.

She offers the ghost a slim smile in turn, gently waving off any attempt at helping. "Your company is enough, my dear. Don't worry about helping."

Toriel shifts back to cleaning up, careful when it came to collecting the glass, glad for gloves to avoid losing any dust in her fur or stabbing the soft pads of her paws.

"Ah- yes, my children are present so far. I am a bit foggy on when the others will return." Toriel isn't about to play the 'maybe' game, they had to come back. She didn't want to deal with the possibility of anyone else not returning.

"Frisk is alright then?! Oh, that's so wonderful--oh, of course it's excellent that the others are fine too!"

He'd just seen Frisk's corpse...and was pleased that they weren't...gone? This was his first brush with death, he can't be blamed.

"I suppose it's just a matter of time then? I hope they, ah. Return soon."

Especially Papyrus. He really wants Papyrus to come back.

Toriel is somehow not surprised this little ghost seems to know Frisk. Everyone knows her child in some regard. "Yes, Frisk has returned, though they're suffering from this glass business." She wonders if the medical staff can fix that, can really fix anything done to those on board.

"These things do take time. Even if it can be frustrating, we must be patient." She states softly back, wondering if this was how Sans felt when she collapsed. Be it a much worse situation.

Mettaton lets out a small huff.

"I'm not known for my patience, darling. But I suppose if it means everyone is coming back, then that is good enough for me."

He glances at her, frowning.

"You must be waiting for someone too, yes?" he asks. It's an innocent enough question...if she doesn't know who he is anyway.

The familiarity earns a arch of Toriel's brow. "Given the fact I have not met a ghost aboard the ship until now, you'll have to excuse me for not knowing your patience threshold."

Her tone is a clear indicator enough she's expecting an introduction soon enough. "Have we met before? I would like to think I know all the monsters currently present aboard the ship."

"I am waiting for everyone to return safely."

Right, they aren't familiar. Not technically.

"No, we haven't. Please excuse my manners," he apologizes, though he isn't sure what to tell Toriel his name is. He hadn't thought this through AT ALL, honestly. BUt then he hadn't expected to come across Toriel at this point.

Maybe he should have. Or maybe he should have kept his nonexistent pink nose out of places that it shouldn't be.

"I'm..."

What's a good name?! Oh no...Oh no....

...Oh! Yes!!

"I'm...Napstablook."

God. Please don't know his cousin's name, Toriel.

The obvious pause and lie only makes Toriel narrow her eyes. "Last I checked, Napstablook, a snail farmer in the underground did not resemble you, dear. They are naturally shy, but I do know them."

She dusts her hands off in the bucket nearby, trying to avoid spreading glass everywhere. "Do not lie to me. I would like to know who you are given your familiarity with me."

Oh come on! What were the chances of Toriel...a monster who was terribly fond of snails...knowing his snail-farming cousin...?

Well fuck him sideways.

Mettaton faded to such transparency that even the flustered tinge on his face was washed out. For some reason, lying to Toriel had been even more difficult than anyone else. He absolutely couldn't do it, especially not when she'd caught him out in such a boldfaced lie and was now glaring at him like a mother admonishing her child.

Was he actually ashamed?! Perhaps a bit. No wonder her kids were generally obedient.

"Oh."

He fumbled for words, which was very unlike him.

"I am...mmh. Oh, for goodness sake! I'm Mettaton, alright?"

Toriel waits, her hand settling on her hip as she watches the younger monster struggle to actually answer. She does not like being lied to, much less by someone who seems to know her relatively well.

The boss monster does pause in some surprise at the revelation. "Oh! Why did you not say so to begin with?" It only makes her wonder why Alphys had lied to her about creating Mettaton. She needed to have a word with that young lady later.

"I'm glad you're back." She means it, Toriel had been waiting for his return just as much as she has been waiting for the other monsters yet to rise.

Despite the general acceptance he receives, Mettaton can't keep calm now that Toriel is aware of his secret. His awfully kept secret, honestly, because he had made a lot of missteps to this point. He couldn't understand why Toriel would be happy to see him as a ghost.

"It's because I am not proud of myself this way! I didn't want anyone to know it was me, could you imagine it? The star of the Underground...a tiny, not-very-important ghost and not at all a robot with a soul? Just listen to my voice, it doesn't command attention at all."

Far from it. It commands that he stop inhaling helium, if anything.

...Alright it wasn't that high. But it was far too feminine for his tastes.

"You still are Mettaton." She states in turn as she wrinkles her snout slightly. "A young man with a flair for dramatics, love of snails and large amount of showmanship."

"I'm sure given some time Alphys can possibly construct you a new body-? If she did. I am not entirely clear on this situation I must admit."

"Mmh."

Mettaton concedes that he is still all those things...just not like this. Other than the love for snails, that was eternal and no change in form could take that away from him. Still, having her say nice things about him does rekindle his ego a little.

"I'm certain she could, though it would take far less time to find my old body and repair that, I think. If there's anything left of it," he says, somewhat concerned. "I guess I should explain some of this, shouldn't I?"

Translation: Does he have to?

"Given Alphys told me she made your soul, I would like some idea of how events came into place." Whilst Toriel would personally like some idea of why she was so directly lied to. Mettaton is not about to get out of this easily.

Hey. When you're caught, you're caught. Mettaton resigns himself to his fate; no wonder Toriel had been queen. She still had that air about her that demanded respect.

"If I tell you, can you at least assure me that you won't be too unkind to her? Alphys has made mistakes, but she isn't a terrible person. And she is harder on herself than anyone else could be."

He's mostly concerned that if Toriel dealt with the former royal scientist's deceit too harshly, then Alphys would take a severe blow to her self-esteem. Or what there was of it, anyway.

"Given the fact I've already fired her before we arrived at this station- I don't intend on lecturing her again." Showing her grand disappointment, certainly- a lecture, not so much. Toriel feels being fired from being royal scientist was enough.

"She seems like a very brilliant young lady that gets wrapped up in expectations far too easily and lets it weigh her down."

"You aren't wrong there," the ghost concedes. "Well, if I must, then...here it is."

He takes a deep breath.

"You know I'm a ghost now. I used to live next door to Bl--ah, Napstablook, and we ran the farm together. I do love snails, and it was rewarding work, but I was not happy there, nor was I happy with doing as some of my other family did and possessing any old training dummy. So I stayed a ghost and spent time studying human culture through whatever I could find in the dump."

There, Mettaton smiles genuinely.

"Humans are such interesting creatures, you know. I admired them, and everything they could do! And...so did Alphys. She came to a meeting I ran for my human fan club when I expected no one else would...and from there, she offered me the chance to have a body more suited to my tastes.

All I had to do was possess the initial build and help her become a royal scientist. I believe it was for the funding."

And so that she could feel important.

"...We were both using each other. I'm not innocent in this either. She wanted a suitable project to show Asgore, and I wanted the perfect body."

Toriel stills, listening to Mettaton's explanation. She isn't about to interrupt him when its clearly this important. She does cross her arms over her chest brows knitting together thoughtfully.

When he finishes, she sighs softly. Asgore was never quite good at follow up, much less asking the needed questions when it came to his staff. It makes Toriel wonder how the kingdom stayed afloat at all whilst she was gone. "You both gotten yourselves in quite a mess from the sounds of it."

Toriel can only shake her head, "I'm glad the lie is over now- regarding her being royal scientist at least. I won't mention your body to anyone. That is up to you to decide upon."

"I wouldn't say I got into a mess," Mettaton admits honestly. "The mess was on Alphys' shoulders, I gained fame!!"

He almost sounds proud, until he realizes he's caught out on being dishonest, so he shouldn't be acting as if he wasn't in trouble. That said, he does glance at Toriel in surprise. The fact that she deems it his business to tell anyone else that he's a ghost...is both a relief and also quite kind of her.

"I appreciate you FOR THAT, darling. I hate to admit that I'm in any way imperfect, but the fact is that I don't believe I'm ready to tell anyone about this.

I'm still sorry for lying to you though."

She arches a brow back, "It is a mess for both of you, because now you are tied as Alphy's creation, opposed to a friend she aided. Even if you've gained from it, it's still something that you both are embroiled in."

Toriel isn't about to demand Mettaton tell the truth, life has never been that simple. Nor would it make him or Alphys all that happy. If he wants to tell someone, he will. If not, Toriel certainly won't be saying anything about it.

"As long as you two can work out a way for you to be comfortable again, that is what matters now." Mettaton's reluctance to state who he was says quite a bit about how he feels as a ghost monster.

Mettaton wanted to say that he didn't mind the designation. It was a fair trade for what he'd gotten out of it, maybe even skewed to his favor. But...Toriel was still right. He didn't wan to argue with her.

"I'm sure we will be able to fix this. I have much faith in Alphys and her abilities. I just...need to find my body.

If there's anything left of it. But there must be, it doesn't--ah. It's made of metal."

He almost said 'it doesn't turn to dust,' but quickly thought better of it.

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Strain this chaos, turn it into light

C.

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