acatalepsy_rpg | [video]

[The camera's at an unnaturally flattering angle of Mettaton's upper body, something only possible for someone with extendable arms or something ridiculous like that. He sits behind a table of some kind, and if he had a stack of papers and a pristine suit it might be reminiscent of a news anchor. But for anyone who has met this showy robot, Mettaton's expression looks a lot more drained than usual. He quickly remedies this and puts forth a pleasant smile, his voice smooth and clear.]

Hello there, beauties and gentlebeauties! It's Mettaton, here at last to deliver the content you've been craving! ...If we weren't under such grim circumstances. You see. I would love for the purpose of this communication to be to serenade you with my dulcet voice. But I have some news for you that is both meaty and fascinating... Like a Steak In The Shape Of My Face, which is both enticing and satiating. So why not compromise and have both?? [He raises a finger.] I've just recovered from connecting to the Horologium itself in an attempt to gather some information by using my robotic talents... At the pleading of Pidge-darling over here. [Who he gestures to, but she's off camera.] And with her assistance. It wasn't easy! Think of it as a token of my dedication to you, my lovely new viewers... Ohhh yes!!

[Mettaton sticks his tongue out "cutely." At least his energy seems to be returning to him the longer he remains on camera.]

What we found? Well. When you connect to a store of information like that, it's always a lot. But this was beyond measure! Imagine. Many of the answers to your questions... lie immediately accessible within these very walls. [Walls, like the one he's sliding his finger down sensually.

Here, his smile tenses.]

The problem is that these answers were so numerous, in fact, that it was enough to, ah. Damage my hardware. ...But don't worry, darlings! I'm better than ever. Now, enough waiting! Let's get to the meat of the matter!!!

[Mettaton clears his throat, which is an incredibly normal thing for a robot without a throat to do.]

Let's start with dimensions. This ship is bigger than you're imagining... If your imagination is anywhere less than 20,000 rooms, and more floors than I could keep track of! [His gaze drifts away in recollection.] And 20,000 was only where I lost my place. Needless to say, it's a number higher than that. Some of these floors have logs that suggest that they're on conflicting schedules, chronologically. For example, they each lost power at different times... And many of the floors possess their own unique stores of information like this, but that's the only teaser I have about that! Flawless though I must seem, it's a little hard even for me to access ALL of that data during a thirty-second foray into a massive server. Nobody said this report was going to be without its disappointments!!

Ah, but. I caught a portion of an emergency call... One sent out before the ship lost electricity. I couldn't make it all out, but there was something about... "in the ship." Oooh, what could that mean?!

[He leans closer to the camera eagerly, as though to invoke curiosity in his audience. But now it's onto the detail he likes significantly less, given that he had to experience it first-hand. His visible eye narrows; Mettaton sobers, and brushes his free hand over his fringe as though to smooth it. It's already smooth.]

But onto the HOT ISSUE of discussion, given that it's related to our... noisy shipmate. You must want to know more about that sound, and I had full intent to deliver. But as soon as I looked into details about that sound... I short-circuited. The moment I inquired, the ship itself... ...Well. Trust me when I tell you that... whatever this noise is, something with access to the ship's data is deeply distressed about it.

[As if on cue, the light flickers, the ship rumbles, and the feed crackles out, preventing Mettaton from doing an obnoxious outro. It's one of those intermittent disruptions, par for the course. It's for the best that he's stopped there: he'll keep talking for the sake of listening to his own voice if he isn't.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Something in the ship . . .

[ a murmur . . . all of what mettaton says is interesting, of course, and of great importance, but lotor actually does like the annoying little robot person, and so he actually is a bit concerned for how mettaton looks (and is generally acting). ]

Do you need help?

I've already received all of the help I need, if you're referring to my repairs. It's all taken care of, beautiful!!

[He's an actor. As such, he flashes Lotor a charismatic smile to supplement his claim. Mounting psychological pressure? The lingering disorientation associated with being out cold for two days? Never heard of it.]

What's on your mind? Care to share with the class?

[ well. he supposes that's good, at any rate, but lotor reserves his quip in order to actually seriously answer the question: ]

Where is the damage to the ship, and how is it still flying, if something attacked from the outside? Unless it was already on this vessel . . . it had to get in somehow, and we have seen no signs of such an attack outside of a few skirmishes in a few rooms.

None of this, logistically, makes any sense.

Already on the vessel, hm? Now there's an idea! As it goes in many stories, sometimes your enemy hides in plain sight. If it's in the ship, it would have never needed to force its way in at all. Maybe it's been there all along... That would do away with explaining the lack of damage to the ship.

[Mettaton pauses a beat.]

Do we know what it looks like at all...? I've heard it must have been big.

[ another shrug. ]

We have no idea, but if it is large, then we would still see signs of assault, surely. The more likely explanation is that it was small enough to sneak aboard, like a stowaway, rather than blast it's way in from the outside.

But if that were the case, then how did it possibly get rid of the crew . . .

[ lotor is thinking out loud, and seems to realize that before he sighs, waving a hand dismissively. ]

Most of this is pointless conjecture. We likely won't know until it finds us, or we find it.

Pointless? Hardly! I think it gives us perspective, Lotor-darling. Even if it's all off the mark, doesn't it get you anticipating the ways to combat our threatening shipmate...?

But you make a good point about its size. Perhaps that's not what's remarkable about it. Instead, its penchant for destruction seems to be the bigger deal.

[ it is a good point, and he has been voicing a great many theories, both privately and on the network. but it is frustrating, to voice a bunch of different areas and come to the same conclusion, which is that they don't know.

all the same: ]

Indeed; it seems to be capable of eradicating an entire crew by itself, at the very least.

[ and he shrugs a shoulder, his tone dry. ]

Lucky us.

... Maybe we should hope that we don't encounter it at all. But with all of this buildup, it's practically inevitable. From a narrative standpoint. Why did Astoria send us here at all, if we were too late to respond to the distress call to begin with...?

[He remembers chatting with Merlin about things being doomed from the start and wonders if this is merely a repeat case. They don't have much to protect here, in Mettaton's eyes. There's Violet. That's about all he can see.]

Unless our goal is to kill it, I'm not entirely sure.

[ it's been resting on his mind, too; just why are they here? typically, there's someone to protect, someone to advocate for . . . but here, it is shockingly empty, and all the people here seem to be missing, or dead. ]

Perhaps our goal isn't as noble, as our other adventures . . . we may very well be mercenaries.

[When Lotor puts it that way, Mettaton sees that they might very well be here to engage with that creature somehow. If it's responsible for wiping out the crew, leaving only Violet as far as they can tell, well... Maybe the point is to do something about the monster, for Violet's sake, if not the vanished crew. His displeasure becomes more prominent.]

I'm thrilled to be here, then. Without any useful combat capabilities. Can't we simply rescue Violet and take her back to the temple? [Something nags at Mettaton's mind, like the sound of the screams he heard before he shorted out. He shifts, visibly uncomfortable, and sighs.] ... Ah. Or maybe getting rid of the monster isn't only for Violet's sake...

Ah, if only it were that simple.

[ with a soft 'tsk.' ]

The witch seems to be mostly in control of who stays or who goes, and she isn't entirely capable of telling us ahead of time whether or not she can take refugees aboard . . . though she did exhibit some amount of kindness, to our last world. We have a plethora of strange mermaids living in the lake, now, thanks to her charitable contributions to preserving a now extinct species.

[ which was the right thing to do, in lotor's opinion, but. you know. ]

Our new friend Violet may be the only survivor . . . I would hate to see what this thing could do to a city, if it was capable of ridding this ship of its population so handily.

Well. No matter how it entered this ship, or how sizeable it is, its destructive properties are evident. Our goal must be to ensure that this tragedy isn't repeated. If we don't kill it... We must have to contain it. We might be too late to save the inhabitants of this ship, but it's not too late to make sure it can't hurt other people.

[Including the members of the circle, as they are the ones immediately endangered, if anyone.]

Indeed.

[ which poses an interesting theory. ]

If we just leave it on the ship, then it may be stuck here until another group of people stumble upon it . . . containing it here may be the safest place it can be, given we seem to be in the middle of nowhere. You can't even see the nearest star system, let alone the nearest planet.

Then let this be its final resting place. Whether that rest is found through death, or eternal captivity. Although being trapped here all alone will be dreadfully boring... But given the nature of its crimes, perhaps it's well-deserved.

[Not like any of them have had the opportunity to talk to the big bad killer to gauge if it has sentience to understand what it has done. Mettaton can only assume that whatever it is, it thrives on killing people somehow. Which is bad.]

I would rather death than eternal loneliness and boredom, but perhaps we can have a discussion on the humanity of punishment at a later date, when we are free of this place.

[ ho hum. ]

For now, it may be easiest to just kill it and be done with it.

I'm rooting for our success!! But who knows? Not everything can die! And that which cannot gets to experience being jailed in the stagnate vessel of perpetual solitude. How sad.

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