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Keats ([personal profile] headlining) wrote2015-12-03 11:35 pm
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FUTUROLOGY IC INBOX


 
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[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-18 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
...

[Ah. That question. The one that's been haunting him since he realized the gift ALASTAIR was giving him. Would you like to go back home? Would he?

Humans already have stars and idols. Monsters... they only have me.

Come on, Blooky. You know I'd never leave you behind.

The three of us performing together... It really feels overdue, doesn't it?


Mettaton's fingers curl in on themselves. His screen is dimmed.]


OF COURSE I WOULD, HONEYSUCKLE. BUT ISN'T THERE SOMETHING SO APPEALING ABOUT HAVING A WIDER AUDIENCE? YES, THESE MISSIONS ARE GODAWFUL AND I'D GIVE ANYTHING TO NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH SOMETHING LIKE WOODHURST AGAIN, BUT...

WE SAVED THE DAY, DIDN'T WE? THINK OF ALL THE LIVES WE SAVED. THAT WE CAN KEEP SAVING. HA. WITH MY BRAINS AND YOUR BEAUTY...

[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-19 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
[He means to make some smart comment in response to the first jib - something like "don't sell yourself short," or "of course not, who solved our zombie mystery," or even "why not both?", but nothing comes out. The obnoxious hum of fans just grows louder as that heart flashes again.

He doesn't feel very beautiful lately. It's one thing to objectively know you're designed to be attractive. It's another to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and believe it.

Whatever. Flatterer.]


SURROUNDED BY ADORING FANS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF MONEY. HOW IS THAT QUESTION SUPPOSED TO BE DIFFICULT?

...WHAT ABOUT YOU? I CAN'T SEE YOU AS THE TYPE TO LET A MYSTERY GO UNSOLVED LONG. AM I STILL GOING TO KNOW YOU IN FIVE YEARS?

[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-19 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
[Uuuuugh, of course he's put two and two together when it comes to that noise. What a jerk. What an inconsiderate, stupidly handsome jerk. The last word should far outweigh the nicer adjectives, but here we are.

Maybe those comedies about people only being attracted to what's horrible for them have a point. Blegh.

Anyway. There's an audible click, like a spring releasing, as Mettaton slinks back into his chair. He wasn't tense over the answer he was going to get. Why should he care if he's put more effort into this... thing going on and the other decides to go home? It's fine. It doesn't matter.]


CONSIDERING I'VE SEEN NEITHER HAIR NOR HIDE OF YOUR WRITING, I'M GOING TO AGREE WITH YOU THERE. [Let's focus on better things. Like teasing. Teasing is easy.] YOU'VE BEEN HERE FOR WHAT, HOW LONG? HOW MANY STORIES HAVE YOU WRITTEN ABOUT YOUR ADVENTURES, HMM? [The lights on his screen flash into a smile.] OR DID YOU GET DISTRACTED STARING AT PRETTY ROBOTS ALL DAY?

[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-19 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
...

[The hum gets louder, but it's not joy or flattery this time. It hurts. It's a twisting in his core that would make him throw up if he had the ability. It's like being trapped in his own body when the power runs out. Everything is empty, no matter how much you want to reach out and be apart of the same world as everyone else.

You just aren't.

This is what he gets, obviously. Blooky would say to drop it. It's not worth it. This is karma telling you to stop.]


YOU'RE SWEET...

[If he had a face right now, he'd be smiling. It'd be anything but happy.]

YOU SHOULD REALLY FIND MORE PRODUCTIVE THINGS TO DO WITH YOUR TIME THAN WRITING A TRAGEDY.

[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-19 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
[He wants to believe that.

It's not true. That's never what matters.]


FOR HOW LONG?

YOU HAVE A CRUSH, KEATS. HOW LONG UNTIL THAT STOPS?

UNTIL YOU GET TIRED OF GLITZ AND GLAMOUR? UNTIL THE NOISE ISN'T WORTH THE ATTENTION?

UNTIL YOU REALIZE YOU CAN NEVER HOLD MY HAND? THAT I'LL NEVER KISS YOU? THAT THERE'S NO ROMANTIC, CANDLE-LIT DINNERS OR MEANINGFUL EMBRACES? UNTIL YOU REALIZE YOU CAN'T MAKE LOVE TO METAL?

HA... NO. YOU'RE STUBBORN. I KNOW YOU ENOUGH BY NOW TO KNOW YOU'D SAY NONE OF THAT MATTERS TO YOU. YOU FIND SOMETHING YOU SET YOUR HEART ON AND YOU CHASE IT UNTIL YOU KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT IT, NO MATTER WHAT.

IT'LL BE UNTIL YOU GET BORED. WHEN YOU REALIZE I'M JUST NOT GOING TO TELL YOU THE ONE THING I CAN'T TELL ANYONE AND IT'S JUST NOT WORTH TRYING ANYMORE.

[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-19 06:01 am (UTC)(link)
[This is it. This is where the chorus swells and the leads kiss. This is where the camera blurs and suddenly the love interest has no flaws. He feels like he's melting. Everything hurts so much. His stupid fans sound like they're a plane taking off.

This is the worst. He hates this. If he could stand to be around this poetic jerk for more than five minutes at a time, he might fall in love.]


YOU IDIOT... I CAN'T EVEN CRY... [He's talking to himself because good lord does this shaky voice sound like he's trying despite himself, but the insult stands for both of them.

This is what Giorno was talking about, Mettaton. This is that moment where you either run away and regret it or stay and just hope that you don't. It's always so much easier to go for the known regret. That's what he's always done.

Fine. Fine. Okay.

There's a burst of light and smoke, and he's back to the form Keats is definitely more used to. The cloak comes with it, automatically, to reflect tears that aren't actually there. It shudders off in an instant, leaving just... metal.

Just Mettaton.]


What if I can't? Live without it?

[Ugh, he can see himself in the mirror and it looks like he's dying. Like he's having to explain to someone that he only has one more day to live. His entire body is shaking. He didn't even think that could happen.]

...You don't understand. You can never understand what it is spend years, decades, every day pretending you'll have some happily ever after where you're finally complete and your one true love sweeps you off your feet and kisses you and every horrible thing you did and all the pain you went through ends up worth it. You don't know what it's like to never be able to interact with the world. You don't understand how suffocating it is to never touch or taste or dream or--

[He doesn't even need to breathe. Why is he acting like he needs to catch his breath?]

...I know you like me. I'm exquisite. And I... somehow like you, [he croaks out, mumbling over the words.

Okay. Okay.

Leave now and know you'll regret it. Stay and you might not.

Okay.

He's still shaking, but it's with the sort of preemptive anger that comes with revealing anything you don't want to. When you want to trust someone so much, but the fear of that coming back to haunt you (haha) turns you bitter at just the thought of it.]


...If I show you something, you have to promise me that it will never leave this room. I mean it. You will regret for the rest of your life that I trusted you and you betrayed it. I can ensure that.

Do you understand?

[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-19 06:35 am (UTC)(link)
[They better be. They so better be or you will wake up and find them sewn together with cat-hair. I swear. I swear to god, I will ruin you.

Breathe. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Mettaton holds out his hands, instructing the other not to come any closer as he steps back. He pushes himself away from the chair, away from the table, until there's a soft thunk of him hitting the wall.

Okay.

There's a hiss. On his torso, where a stomach should be, lies a chamber with a pink heart. The sides of it expand and open, hydraulics forcing them apart like a mouth opening to show a set of teeth. The glass in the way drops out and away.

Okay...

His joints of his fingers are squeaking with how hard he's curling them into fists. With another unnecessary breath, the heart, his core, leaves its chamber. It floats forward, to where Mettaton had been a moment ago. It slows, as if hesitant, before resuming its path.

Once it's halfway across the table, Mettaton's body shudders and his head lolls forward, deactivating.

Okay.

Closer, close enough to be in arm's reach. Then closer, floating up and toward Keats' face. It's pink and seemingly metal like the rest of him. There's rivets on each side and vents for steam. Unlike the rest of his body, though, this seems... life-like. Like some living spirit possessed some fancy metal-work and decided to call it home.

It floats forward again and presses itself against his cheek.

...it immediately draws back because what the hell-]


i thought your face would be softer, what the hell is that, [the core squeaks, the voice filtering out of it far softer and significantly less mechanized than any other time Mettaton's spoken. It's definitely him, just... not as loud. More wispy, almost echoing.

Like a ghost.]

[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-19 07:08 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh... oh, that's what that feels like... That must be "soft." It's so nice. He pushes himself into the touch, forcing himself into the other's palm and resting there. It's warm. It's so warm...

He's so content to finally feel someone touching him that Mettaton almost misses Keats' comment.]


...

[So. He caught on, huh?

Leave and regret it. Stay and hope you don't...]


when... w-when alphys met me, i'd completely given up hope on finding a body that looked the way i wanted it to. i wanted to be a star. i wanted people to notice me, for once. i wanted to be able to interact with everyone else, the way... the way people like me always do. people that... [Even now, even when it's totally obvious, he's still choking over the words. He can't bring himself to say it. "People that are ghosts."] people that don't have bodies.

[Sigh. An exhale of warm steam leaves his vents.]

...we made a deal: i'd possess a rudimentary body she built and pretend she made me, and she'd give me the body i always wanted once she became the royal scientist.

...i'm sorry.
[I'm sorry this is what you have feelings for. I'm sorry I'm a liar. I'm sorry I'm still terrified of you knowing.]

[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-19 01:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[This son of a bitch. This sweet, caring jerk. What happened to the Keats he wanted to spin-kick directly into an ocean? Why is this happening?

His heart already glows by itself, bright and pink as benefiting Mettaton's... himselfness. Now? Encompassed in warmth as his surface is caressed? As this idiot, this horrible puppet master that's controlling his emotions, manages to compliment him, to call him amazing...?

He's glowing brighter. More steam pours from his seams as a tiny oh... leaves his body. Not fair. This isn't fair.

What's Keats even asking? ...oh. That.]


i... i don't know. i know the connotation on the surface - a soul only comes from something that used to be alive, but... i don't remember being anything other than,

[Say it. Just say it. Keats already knows. You already know. This isn't rocket science, it's a junior jumble.]

than a ghost.

[Sigh. He's trying and failing miserably to sink further into Keats' hands, to hide.]

haha... of course a nerd finds this interesting instead of horrifying. even other monsters are scared of what i was... i guess this really does explain a lot, huh?

[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-19 02:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[How can anything be afraid of you? There's a lot to counter that with. Keats has never seen what a ghost really looks like. He's never seen them appear from seemingly nothing, or possess something, or attack someone. They're... Well. They're awfully spooky. At least, they are to everyone else.

He's on the verge of explaining this when he realizes the hands that are holding him are quaking. As is Keats' voice... And that smile, that painfully fake smile...

A small burst of static leaves his core, leaving tingles on the other man's skin. It's the closest thing he has to a reassuring touch without any hands of his own.]


you desperately want to kiss me, yes, i know. you have my permission. i'm very hard to resist.

[He's kidding. Look at him. He's a dang metal heart.

Anyway.]


...are you alright? [Ha...] you look like you've seen a ghost.

[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-19 03:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh.

Oh...]


that other form... that's what you really are, isn't it...?

[...somehow, it's not the news that's shocking. If anything, it's just confirmation to something he was already piecing together: Keats isn't normal. He's too powerful. Him and Ellen meeting seemed like too much of a coincidence, his role with her, a stranger in a strange world, too significant. And then, when he changed into that being with white hair and piercing blue eyes...

It's not the confession itself that's surprising, that's twisting his heart in pain. It's the reaction. The emotions behind it.

Keats is selfish. He's emotionally withdrawn. He's sweet sometimes, but cruel the next. Mettaton's never seen him this devastated. He's never seen him cry.

The lights in the core dim, but it lets out another burst of static. It's okay. It's alright.]


hey... you're in good company, right?

i won't tell anyone i'm dating a faery if you don't tell anyone you're seeing a ghost.

[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-19 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[I've told myself lies. It's just been one great farce-

Realization hits all at once like a train. All the deflections. All the insecurity. "I'm made," not "I was born." The simmering fury at being called Herve. The way he hates his reflection...

If Mettaton had eyes, they'd be widened. The light of his core dims even further as Keats' voice cracks and there are tears, genuine tears, pooling in his eyes.

All the time Mettaton's been pulling at threads to get Keats to admit things about himself... Keats has never been hiding things from Mettaton. Keats has been hiding things from Keats.

He doesn't want to leave his grip. It's warm and comforting and it's the first time someone's ever held him, really held him, in his entire, miserable life. But he floats out of Keats' grasp anyway. He has to float to eye-level, to press himself against the other's forehead.

It's as close to an embrace as he has. Maybe... maybe he's warm enough that there's comfort in that.]


shut up. you don't get to call yourself that. you are not a thing.

you're sweet. you're nosy and stubborn. you love writing more than anything else in the world. you adore folklore and the history behind them. you love dissecting stories and their adaptations, to the point of making them both meaningless. you always want a logical reason for everything and get some sort of weird glee at the thought of putting the clues together. you want to believe in things you already proved false, just in case you're wrong. you watch musicals and pretend like you hate them. you cry at bittersweet romances. you think puns are hilarious and can't take a compliment and go from being stuffy to a menace when the chance to play tricks fall into your lap. you talk about never finding someone and then flirt with a robot.

you're a person, keats. you're complicated and obnoxious and more smug than a jerk like you needs to be, but that still makes you you. if you can see me, me, as a person, you have no excuse when the mirror is on yourself.

if you accept what you are... half-life or faery or ghost or whatever category you want to pick, then what's so scary about it? i don't know where i came from. i don't care where you came from and i'm sorry that you have these memories that aren't yours. i can't even imagine that.

but all that matters is that you're keats.

stupid, sweet, irritating keats.


[Sigh... Mettaton floats backwards, just enough for them to actually see one another.]

...this is the part where i'd kiss you, but... you know. "have no mouth and must smooch."
Edited (fixing some stuff) 2017-04-19 21:02 (UTC)

[personal profile] ex_mettacrusher33 2017-04-20 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
wha- no, hang on a second! go back!!

[He's flittering around the other's head now, like some sort of shiny, irritated butterfly, spinning to and fro in the air as he "rants". He's joking. It's obvious he's just joking. It's to clear the mood, to make Keats laugh again. Mettaton doesn't care what he is. He's still handsome and thoroughly impossible to deal with at any given moment. He still likes Mettaton despite the robot's many, many denied flaws, despite how many times Mettaton's tried to chase him away.

He really does deserve that "putting up with Mettaton" award.]


i am always nice! i have a reining supremacy in the sunshine championships. you fell into my dark prison of passion entirely due to my innate kindness and amazing butt - you don't get to play the "oh, hohoho, who are you and what did you do with mettaton" card, buff nerd.

[He stills, finally, the light pouring from him pulsing brighter. He twist slightly in the air, as if shyly shifting his weight from foot to foot.]

but... i mean...

[He draws closer.]

if you're offering... since you're so nice and all...
Edited (SHUT UP I CAN'T TYPE) 2017-04-20 03:21 (UTC)

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