Where Did This Ghost Come From?

[mttbrandlegs]

Who: Mettaton (mttbrandlegs) and YOU!
When: July 4th and onwards
Where: Various locations
What: Catchall for post-resurgence Mettaton shenanigans up til the second monthly event. Surprise, he's been revived as...a ghost!
Warnings: Can't think of any yet!


Prompts will be in the comments!

Vital information: Mettaton is now a child-sized pink ghost. His personality is pretty much the same, but he will be more easily upset and prone to mopey behavior, because he feels very displaced without his body.

His voice is also of a more feminine pitch.

He will try to hide his identity from most people because ghosts are not cool. How could a ghost be popular?

Comments

OPEN POSTS

[mttbrandlegs]

I Woke Up Into A Nightmare!! (Various random locations)

[mttbrandlegs]

Upon being revived, Mettaton immediately realized something was wrong. How could he not, he'd lost at least 3 feet in height, and he was no longer solid!!

As soon as he was able, the small ghost disappeared from the medbay, but he didn't go to his room. If he did, it would be like admitting that he wasn't a robot, and he absolutely was! Being a robot had granted him so much freedom, he didn't want to go back to being a ghost...it wasn't fair. Of course, no one but himself could really understand that, but it didn't make his anxiety any less. In fact, it made him twice as anxious to be identified by anyone on the ship, especially someone who had an idealized picture of who he, Mettaton, really was...

Most of his wanderings are done in panicked appearances across the Moira, from the gardens, to the aft, and any other location in between. The ghost appears to be distressed and capricious, disappearing if no one was around. If someone called out to him, or brought attention to his presence, then he would likely give pause, but better be quick before he vanishes into thin air.

[ex_discomfort99]

Mettaton died. Sans died. So many people died... except Alphys.

She's somehow survived through it all, and now that everything's over - sort of - she doesn't know what to do with herself. What is there for her to do? She'd just screw up any attempts to repair the ship or help the injured or glassified. It's not like there was anything for her to contribute during the fight, and unless someone needs a bag of cheetos eaten or an anime marathoned, there isn't anything a waste of life like herself could do right now either.

In fact, the only thing she's worried about right now is Mettaton. She heard that it can take some time to people to "come back" after dying, but Alphys had already found Mettaton's robot body. Or, well, pieces of it. So, if she had to guess - and this is just a theory, but - when he comes back, it will be the actual Mettaton. The old Mettaton. And she knows he isn't going to be very happy or eager to show himself, perhaps even to her.

So she's laying on her back on the floor of the aft, staring up at the expanse of stars yet again. Beside her is one of Mettaton's robot arms. She found it on the Moro deck. It's in good shape aside from the fact that it's dismembered and lifeless and totally depressing.

[mttbrandlegs]

Alphys knew her friend well. Mettaton had been very scarce all day, ashamed to show who he really was and talk with that voice that wasn't his anymore. He hated all of this so much, and the only good thing about coming across Alphys in the aft--doing exactly what he intended to do, to be quite honest--is that he can approach her with very minimal hesitation.

Despite this, his approach is slow, tentative. And it's written on his face how uncomfortable he is like this. Even the sight of his left arm (which he couldn't even remember losing) couldn't bring a drop of excitement to his admittedly bland face.

"Can I join you?" he asks, and the way the words sound coming from him make him feel so hollow and incorrect that he rashly considers disappearing on the spot. He doesn't, but it isn't because he wants anything from Alphys right now.

Just her company. She knows him like this. She won't judge.

[ex_discomfort99]

A pink spirit pops up in her peripheral vision, his ectoplasm hanging gracefully. Alphys sits up instantly, like a mouse trap snapping shut, and gapes at him.

"Mettaton!!!" she shrieks, before lurching forward and throwing her arms around him. She's so glad to finally see him alive, and so intent on grabbing him before he fades away, that she uses magic to touch him without needing to give it an awkward, untrained thought.

"I was so worried! I didn't know where you were, or... what had happened...! B-But, you're back!!"

[mttbrandlegs]

The feel of clawed fingers and the tingle of Alphys' innate magic is enough to make even Mettaton freeze in place. Alphys hardly ever exerted her own magic on anything.

She'd just wanted to touch him. To make sure...he didn't run away from this? Haha. That sounds about right. After all, he'd been about ready to do just that.

Mettaton presses his tiny "hands" against her chest. He'd hug her properly if he could.

"I'm so sorry to have worried you, Alphys," he mumbles quietly, and it's such an honest apology that he even makes himself tear up a little. Small, emotional little thing that he is. "But I'm glad you're here. You were safe, yes?"

[ex_discomfort99]

Squeezing Mettaton tightly, she pulls him against her chest and presses her snout into his ethereal poof of hair. It's been a long time since she's seen this Mettaton, and she knows that for him, it's more upsetting to be a ghost again than to have died in the first place. But call her selfish - she just doesn't care about that right now.

"Yes! Yes, I'm fine!" she sobs. "I'm so glad to see you...! I th-thought you were gone for - forever! I f-found your p-p-p -- pieces, but I didn't know where you were, and..."

[dancingblade]

Fi had come out the other end of the fight unscathed. No glass mars her form and she looks and sounds as she always did. But when your true form was that of a sacred blade, blessed by the Goddesses themselves, it's not an unexpected outcome. What she hadn't expected; the lack of directive afterwards. She was created to guide the Hero and then to sleep afterwards...

So she's been fluttering around the ship, occasionally directly people away from areas that was deemed 'too dangerous' to enter. She could not assist in the removal of bodies, nor did she feel adequately prepared to offer words of comfort to the grieving members aboard this ship. The most she could do was reassure Link. And make sure that no one walked into areas that they were not equipped to handle.

"..." But seeing a bright pink Poe appear and disappear around the ship was certainly attention grabbing. There was something about the signature that rang familiar too (of course, there was a 98% probability that this was a crew member that she had not personally encountered but noticed around the ship). The first time she spots the pink Poe, she doesn't think much of it. The next few times...

"If you are concerned about the state of the ship, perhaps it would be best to efface a calmer presence. Your distress is apparent and likely related to the destruction that has recently happened." Fi says... Well, she speaks plainly with no real emotion though her delivery is as musical as ever. Is she trying to comfort him?

... If he disappears on her, she'll probably follow. She may be a sword but she was also a spirit.

[mttbrandlegs]

Mettaton didn't expect to be called out for disappearing and reappearing so quickly, but then he shouldn't be surprised that someone's paying attention to his patterns. He is, however, very embarrassed. He, Mettaton, was embarrassed that he was being so conspicuous.

The world really must have been ending.

Either way, he jolts and gets halfway to vanishing when the spirit speaks to him, whirling so fast that the bottom of his ectoplasmic form fluttered.

"I am not concerned about the ship itself!" he says a little more aggressively than intended. He dials it back a little when he speaks again, realizing how mad he sounds. "I'm looking for..."

He pauses. No, he's not going to talk about his body to a perfect stranger.

"..my friends."

It isn't a lie so much as a slight deflection from what his actual goals entail.

[dancingblade]

At the very least, Fi doesn't appear offended to have received such an uptight response. She continues floating peacefully where she was and waits. When Mettaton finishes, she simply nods.

"Understood. In the aftermath, there is a high probability of losing track of friends and loved ones. However, the frantic nature of your search only has a 22% chance of success especially with the Moira in it's current state."

A pause.

"I can assist in your search, but I do not know who you are looking for. A description will greatly improve my ability to dowse for them."

She doesn't even pay the deflection any mind. It was, after all, not hard to believe that this little Poe was looking for his friends and she knew she would have no issue repelling it should it attempt to attack her. Maybe the lack of emotions in generally was a little strange, but the offer of help is genuine. She is as lost as everyone else is; Fi just didn't have the emotions to properly express it.

I'm SO sorry for making you wait! :s

[mttbrandlegs]

Seeing as he'd been a robot so long, Mettaton can understand quantifying things with mathematical calculations, but he is also an emotional creature, moreso now than ever as he feels so exposed and out of his element.

"While I appreciate your offer, I'm still not sure if it'll help much," he says standoffishly. "Still...have you seen a monster around? About this tall--" at which point Mettaton floats to approximate Alphys height "--and usually wearing glasses? She looks reptilian if that helps."

He doesn't ask about anyone else. He doesn't quite have the courage to, since so many ended up dead...it's better not to get his hopes up, or be alarmed that anyone else had gotten hurt.

Hide and Seek (Various locations)

[mttbrandlegs]

After some time has passed, Mettaton seems to gather his thoughts and affirm a goal to himself; locate his body. He realizes that it's probably going to be in an awful state, but what frightens him more than that is the idea that someone had found it, thought of it as scrap, and either chopped it for parts or threw it away

Since he isn't bound by the need to charge or the need to sleep, the small pink ghost carries out a days-long search for his body, floating through walls which he was permitted to cross--almost all of them, honestly. He's a freaking ghost--and peeking in likely hiding spots for his body. If he found most of it, that would be a boon in and of itself! Then, uh. He'd have to find the arm that had fallen off, he supposed.

From time to time, Mettaton comes across an understandably occupied public area. If it's not too densely populated, he'll float up to people with a quiet question.

"Have you seen a broken robot anywhere? It's important that I find it, you see. Oh, or if you found an arm that would be helpful too. I--eh, that is...it was broken badly during a fight."

[redshitlord]

Oh no, it's cute --

That's the first thing to pop into his head when he's asked. He'd come back up to the observation deck, just to try and take his mind off of everything. No one else was there, so it made for a perfect place to sulk. His frame still hurt, a lot. But... maybe he was avoiding Riptide, just a bit. For a little while.

But that's not what he expected to see up here.

Sideswipe blinks a few times. Looks around -- is anyone else here? Is this somebody's joke, or--?

"Uh, no, dude," he says, finally. "Sorry." A beat, then: "What's it look like?"

[mttbrandlegs]

Mettaton seemed to deflate a little when he's told this guy hasn't seen his body. Yeah, that's what he expected. It wasn't a small body, but by and large, he was one of the more conservatively sized robots at 7 feet tall.

Well. He used to be. Now he was just a ridiculous, not-very-important ghost.

"It's a seven foot high bodyframe, with silver face and extremities! Pink chestplate, core container in the abdomen...oh! I have great hair, and super excellent legs too!!"

Mettaton seemed to have gotten himself excited for a moment while describing his body, but after he realizes he's hovered several feet upward and gotten way into "himself," he floated back down reservedly.

"So yes. That would be my body."

[redshitlord]

Poor Mettaton might not feel very important right now, but... he actually gets a laugh out of Sideswipe. Not a mocking one, just a real, amused little laugh. Which is borderline miraculous right now.

"Sounds like it's awesome, dude. Like something out of a movie," he says. The smile is a bit more real this time. Less forced. "Oh wait... "

He frowns again, thoughtfully. "I saw a guy like that at the leg thing," he says, slowly. "Was... that you?"

[mttbrandlegs]

...Shit, did he seriously end that with 'that would be my body'?! What kind of idiot outright admits what they're trying to hide--oooh, Mettaton was so mad at himself! Clearly being like this was stressing him out to the point of compromising his entire stealth plan, and now he'd just admitted that he was really a ghost! Ugh.

He sighed, reaching a nubby "hand" up to flick at his bangs while looking frustrated at himself.

"...Yes that was me. Please do not tell anyone."

finally tags this, lmk if this works!

[notyetsore]

Ginko isn't generally inclined to hang around heavily populated areas of the ship, anyway - especially not right now. It's partly a matter of his emotional state after the attack, and partly just that... well. Having his entire head turn to glass makes it a lot harder to hide the amorphous form of the shadow swirling inside his left eye socket.

Being approached at all, especially by someone he doesn't recognize, comes as a shock at first... and that's to say nothing of the sick twisting in his stomach when the ghost mentions a broken robot. HE'S SEEN ONE, ALRIGHT.

"I--" He swallows hard and looks down, hands clutching at the bottom hem of his shirt. "Wh-why do you need that?"

it's totally fine! ouo

[mttbrandlegs]

Mettaton's pupil-less eye widens. Looks as if poor Ginko got glassed pretty badly...of course he's no one to judge, since he hasn't a body.

The way the small human struggles to respond though...Mettaton is certain that he knows something.

"It's important," he presses, though he's very reluctant to say way. "Please tell me if you've seen it? Is it of moderate size? Was it missing an arm?"

The more he spoke, the more frenzied the ghost seemed to become. He really hoped he was right, at least partially. The rest of him would feel pretty bad that Ginko would have had to see him in such a poor state. Or what was left of him, anyway...

[notyetsore]

He slowly moves to wrap his arms around himself as Mettaton talks, staring down at the ground. Then he gives a very slight nod.

"I... I have seen a broken robot that was... was about human-sized. And-- and missing an arm." He bites his lip and reaches up to scrub at his eye with one hand, still desperately avoiding eye contact.

[mttbrandlegs]

Mettaton is to the point of demanding that Ginko show him where his body is, since that's clearly what the kid's found...but he hesitates when he realizes that Ginko's body language is far from comfortable.

"Oh no, darling. You didn't...find me like that did you?"

Guilt immediately causes him to reveal his identity, though he's not sure if Ginko would catch on, he seems so upset. Mettaton floats closer, attempting to move into the boy's line of sight.

"I'm so very sorry if you did. It must have been awful, and here I am describing it."

It's Not Me... (Garden)

[mttbrandlegs]

It's been almost a week since Mettaton had been stuck like this. He had no corporeal form adequate enough to possess, and even if he did, he wouldn't try. Dying had put things into perspective for him. He had gotten scared because he couldn't leave that body...the malfunctioning wreck of his EX form had been home for his soul, and he couldn't leave it.

He was scared of the implication.

More than that, he was starting to feel...very unlike himself. Sure, he'd had those kind of thoughts before. It was why he had never really been happy in his incorporeal form before meeting Alphys, at least. He just hadn't felt so...out of place in such a long time. He would try using doors without thinking, or to pick up things without using magic, only to have them pass through his nubby hands.

Mettaton was already worn of this. Which was why he was laid out under the tree in the garden area, staring quietly at the weaving branches and trying to ground himself.

Normally this activity cleared his mind and he was able to forget the oppressively unhappy things he dealt with, including his flaws. Unfortunately, it only made him feel worse for the moment.

He's not back yet. He's still not back. You're lucky to be "alive," and look at all the violence you caused.

Papyrus didn't hurt anyone...but you were so mad that you tore those people apart. Who would want to be near such a destructive person?

Mettaton's one visible eye outline seemed to wobble, and a tear gathered at the corner.

He wasn't meant to feel sad. All he wanted was to forget how sad he was, and to be near someone familiar...really, just be near anyone.

disclaimer: idk what my resurgence penalty is yet; Papyrus's condition is subject to change :V

[coolskeletonnyehntyfive]

Waking up in cryo had been a strange experience. He'd been on the other end of the process once before, after Sans had been dusted by the human, but it was a whole other thing to lose consciousness while crumbling, trying to use his dwindling time to be encouraging or helpful to Frisk, and then remembering nothing until his eyesockets opened again, nearly a week later.

Of course the first order of business was to check in on his brother and friends. As it turned out, most of the monsters were in the same situation he was -- they hadn't stood a chance against the Caducans. The more he heard and saw, the more worried he got. Mettaton must have been in the middle of it all too, right?

People had seen him, but not lately.

Messages sent to his MID went unanswered for the first time.

A part of him felt strange, hollow. Weighed down in a way he still wasn't used to. Tobi had left too, and a couple of his other cool friends. Had that happened to Mettaton as well?

He'd never gotten a chance to properly thank him for the gifts. Or for helping him find Sans in the void. Or, well... any of it, really. He owed the guy so much, and now it seemed he was just. Gone.

The ghost in the garden didn't spook him. He was somewhat used to seeing Undyne's neighbor (what was that guy's name again? Napperboo? Spookybooks?) lying around someplace, usually forming some sort of shape with their ethereal tears. You know, as ghosts tended to do. This was a different ghost, but they looked sad all the same. Man, what was with ghosts and crying? You'd think they'd be happy with the ability to float through walls and fly around without spending magic!

He took a moment to put his best smile back on before entering the area. No point adding to their sadness when he might be able to take some away, after all.

"Hello, there!" He approached with his usual stride, looking for all the world like nothing had ever happened.

If you could ignore the glass arms.

"Are you new? I didn't think we'd gotten a new shipment of friends yet!"

[mttbrandlegs]

Mettaton's first reaction is...panic. He'd rolled over when he heard the sound of footfalls, but as soon as Papyrus spoke, he jolted upright. Funny how the skeleton was the one spooking the ghost, if you think about it.

He wasn't thinking about that. Instead, he was thinking about how much he wanted to apologize for not being there for Papyrus, for letting him die when he should have taken care of him. Some of these thoughts are combated by his common sense saying "um, that's his brother's job not yours" but he couldn't bring himself to believe that.

Furthermore...Mettaton had killed a lot of Caducans, how could he even own up to that when he wanted Papyrus to keep admiring him?!

But the most important thing right now was not letting Papyrus know this was him...

"I--yes!! Ah, I mean no!!" the ghost said faster than he could stop himself. He floated backwards a little from the skeleton, still surprised that he was back. It wasn't a bad thing, naturally, he'd just been waiting so long for Papyrus to return that he hadn't expected it.

...He hated how very different his voice sounded without the pitch regulators his robot body afforded, and unfortunately his frustration did show a little.

"I mean...you just haven't seen me around, I suppose! I'm the kind of ghost that keeps to themselves."

Gross. He's such a liar. Papyrus is going to be cross with him later, he knows it. But maybe he wouldn't have to find out...if only Mettaton could find his body, and repossess it as soon as possible.

For now, Papyrus' glass arms are put to the wayside in favor of him being alive. Besides as far as this "ghost" knew, Papyrus didn't look any different, right?

Still. Who knew that could happen to someone in cryo?

[coolskeletonnyehntyfive]

"That sounds likely!" Coming from anyone else, it might've sounded like the least funny brand of sarcasm, but Papyrus meant it. Some people on this crew were less friendly than others, and he was excited to finally meet one of the more elusive ones.

"I hope I didn't bother you! I was... looking for a friend. He seems to have gone missing." He rubbed at the back of his neckbones, rustling the orange scarf he'd been quick to find and put back on. After a moment, he brightened and turned back to the ghost with renewed interest. "Oh! You haven't seen him, have you? He's a bit taller than I am, made out of metal and magic? He looks human sometimes, but don't let that fool you! He also has an amazing square shape that made hims very famous where I'm from!"

[mttbrandlegs]

Mettaton was starting to catch onto the fact that Papyrus often said very sincere things that weren't meant to sound sarcastic. It didn't bother him, of course! It was part of why he was so attracted to the tall skeleton monster. He was just so genuine.

"You didn't bother me," he responded kindly, a nubby arm (hand?) rising up to wipe a tear from his eye. Wow, he'd really been upset hadn't he? He still was, honestly, but it was hard to stay that way around Papyrus. His optimism and personable nature just had that effect. "It's nice to talk to someone every once in a while."

Ohhh, and when Papyrus goes on about his "friend", Mettaton's eye lights up. That's him, that's the real him!! Metal and magic and good looks!!

"Oh!! I know who you're talking about~" he said, unable to resist indulging himself. "Mettaton, right?!"