💔 💔 💔 💔 [Video] 💔 💔 💔 💔

[mettatonvevo]

[The video feed opens to a pair of robotic hands pinning a sign to a pillar in the Entrance Hall. This isn’t terribly peculiar since Mettaton has done this quite a lot in the past for his concerts but the subject of this flyer is of a different affair than anyone is accustomed to seeing. It is rather bare in comparison to the almost gaudy things he’s put up before but this one is straight and to the point: a picture of a ghost that some of Wonderland may recognize and the words on the top and bottom of the flyer say in big bold, eye-catching print HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GHOST? Anyone who happens to explore the mansion today will run into a lot of them hung up all over Wonderland.

There’s a couple of seconds as Mettaton adjusts the flyer so it sits perfectly on it and, satisfied, he reaches a hand back to the camera and turns it to face him.]

Hello Wonderland! It’s been awhile since I have posted here, I know, it’s a tragedy that I need to remedy more often, but that’s a problem for later. For now, dear Wonderland, I need your help. You see, in that last event or perhaps a little before it, someone important went missing. And I know some of you knew them, so I will need your help in finding them!

[He says this with a confidence that does not betray the anxiety that has been building in his soul that he has been fervently denying.]

Now I know one of the first questions some of you may ask me is “Is their room empty?” Well. Their room being empty, whether or not it is, doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that they are missing and that I will find them. Any information you have as to where they may be would be incredibly helpful!

[Now Mettaton looks almost imploringly to the camera, but of course he’d never come off as desperate, no, he’s Mettaton! He’d never potentially lose his cool like this.]

So! If any of you have information about the whereabouts of the dear and lovely Napstablook, I am all ears! I will be all over Wonderland and if you have anything at all, respond to this and let me know.

[With a decisive nod he ends the feed.]

((ooc: If you’re feeling an action thread, Mettaton can be found almost all over Wonderland feverishly looking for his dear friend, so feel free to run into his rather desperate search as he denies that Napstablook is gone. Places of note are The Music Room, the Library and probably the entirety of the Second Floor but he can absolutely be found anywhere you wish other than the Forest, which is a closed prompt.))

Comments

Forest - Closed to Close CR

[mettatonvevo]

[Mettaton has been searching all day. Up and down, through every nook and cranny, he has been relentless in going over every inch in Wonderland in search of his cousin. There has been one place he has avoided however, barely letting his eyes drift over while outside and stubbornly not looking out the window when in. It’s the forest. He knows it is the forest. If he can’t find them anywhere else, they’ll have to be there. It’s the going there that is the problem.

But as the sun begins to set he feels the tendrils of desperation clench around his soul and he can’t deny it anymore. He has to go. So go he does. Deeper and deeper past the boundary line of trees he walks, not running, oh no, just walking. He’ll find them soon. He’s sure of it. Even as the memories prickle in the back of his mind, even as he finds himself trembling at being here, he’ll find them. It’ll be worth it.

He presses deeper in. The underbrush scratches at him again and the trees become denser but he knows. He knows they have to be here. He calls for them a few times. He doesn’t receive an answer but that’s all right, they didn’t answer the first few times he called then either. It’s when the wariness starts to set into his circuitry, when he feels his soul being forcibly dimmed, that it occurs to him he’s gotten as far as they both did last time. And Napstablook isn’t here. They’re not here. They’re well and truly gone.

He’s not sure what makes him drop to his knees, the physical wariness or the heaviness of the despair roiling inside him but drop he does. He fights it for a moment. Takes in a big gulp of air despite not needing to breathe, clenching his gloved fingers into the dirt, but it’s futile. It starts out with a small shaky rattle in his voice which progresses into a larger hitch and then he begins to sob. The tears roll down his cheeks one after the other and he begins to wail, loud and keen, and he shakes and he shakes and he shakes.

They’re not here. They’re not coming back. All he can do is cry.]

+2 to ZEZPQB BT FRESMNF IZDVZ BEFVQN GC NBVBW

obviously here

[punful]

[He feels distress coming from somewhere, even before the post goes up. Sometimes an emotion shows up and the source is a bit cloudy unless you look carefully at it. Sans just figures it's Alphys at first, but it lingers, and it cuts deeper than what he's used to from her.]

[Then Mettaton's post goes up and he watches it in total silence.]

[He's never really understood their relationship, nor has he really made any effort to. The two of them are close, and that's that. Maybe Napstablook showed up to one of Mettaton's concerts and they started talking about music and they just hit it off. Who knows? It didn't need examining. They cared about each other, pretty deeply.]

[He doesn't really realize until now just how deeply.]

[He checks Mettaton's room first, but he's not there. Well, now the distress is coming from himself as well. He has a bad feeling. So he taps into the connection a bit more, sorts through everything that's "broadcasting"--denial, desperation, exhaustion...all of it veering toward worse things. Wherever Mettaton is, he's running out of hope.]

[Sans knows what that's like.]

[He checks Napstablook's room. Empty, of course. He checks where Mettaton was filming his post. Nothing. He's getting a little desperate himself now.]

[He needs to find his friend. So he takes hold of the connection and, god, he doesn't know how to do this, how this even works. It's all still a work in progress. He's not sure if you can just locate someone at the other end, but he's absolutely going to try. Maybe that's a fucked up thing to do, using the bond they have to track someone down, but--but Mettaton's clearly in trouble, and...]

[The forest. There's a sense that Mettaton is in the forest. Right, because--]

[Sans remembers what Mettaton told him during the flood.]

[He couldn't be thinking of...he wouldn't, right?]

[Sans teleports into the woods, trying to follow the connection as best he can. He reappears about a hundred yards from Mettaton. He can't see him through the trees from this far away, but he can hear him. He heads for the sound at a pace that, for Sans, would be considered brisk.]

[This is very deep in the woods, deeper than Sans has ever gone, to the point that he's feeling that old tug at his soul, something that reminds him way too much of almost Falling Down.]

[He finds Mettaton on his knees, weeping. Sans stops a few feet behind him, immediately losing any confidence he had that this was the right thing to do.]

metta...?

Here, have a Dorian

[theothermrgray]

[The last event was an interesting one. While he did enjoy the blog he kept up for the past four days, the zombie threat was not so pleasant. So, he thought he would take a moment to step outside and take in the fresh air. Better than being cooped up in a hotel room all day, that's for sure...]

[But he heard someone crying in the forest. Curiously, he ventured in, drawing near to the source... The familiar source...]

Mettaton...?

[... Wasn't there a broadcast earlier...? And the posters...]

[Oh no.]

slides in

[determinedest]

[The bottom line is that Frisk didn't set out in search of him. They didn't set out in search of anything at all. Their phone is off, and they've not seen the announcement that someone very particular, someone very important, has faded and gone.]

[It feels like wandering through the Underground - normal, and natural, and familiar. A Stick in hand. A careful step. Eyes hooded, and watchful.]

[But the sound of someone else calling for help is too familiar to ignore. And like any human SOUL, like seed-packed thoughts all swimming close to the surface, they cannot help but follow it.]

[The source is not human, but it's not one they'd expect, either.]

[The stick drops limply into the leaf litter, and their footsteps crunch closer, faster.]

Mettaton. [Oh no. Oh no.] Mettaton.

gay clapping

[sciencelizard]

[She feels it, before she even sees the broadcast.

It's impossible to describe the true feelings of loss; there's words to be said, pictures to be painted, but nothing ever quite captures the deep ache it causes in a SOUL of something simply being there one day and not the next. The horrible, horrible truth of this place is always that it will come to an end. And for those people who are here only by good graces, who have nothing left to go back to...

Well, knowing someone's fate is certainly not going to help. Not when someone's fate is a fate like Napstablook's.

She doesn't really know how to find him. Thinks about calling, but doesn't think he'll pick up. Frankly, she'd probably chicken out on being able to say something meaningful, barrier between them as it is. So she just... goes. Walks out of her room, stumbles a few directions, and eventually ends up on the right path.

Linked souls always find their way back to each other, after all.

It takes her a while, through the winding brush, out from the mansion, but she makes it. A place she's never been before, but still somehow feels like she knows. But maybe that's just him.]

Metta...? It's, uhm. It's me.

Library

[pleasereset]

[Asriel heard the broadcast, though he hasn't seen or heard from Napstablook. He's not really sure where he'd even be able to find them, since he barely knows anything about the ghost. But if Mettaton's searching the library, there's a goat monster looking at one of his posters. He tears his attention away at the sound of footsteps.]

Oh um, hi. Did you find who you were looking for?

[mettatonvevo]

[Mettaton almost doesn't see him, single-minded as he is right now, but Asriel's words cut through the fog and he sights the boy rather quickly.]

Hello Asriel. No, I haven't found them yet. Have you seen them anywhere? They tend to like quiet spaces so this seemed like a good place to be...

[He sounds distracted and he is as he looks around the bookshelves looking for that vague luminescence that signals Napstablook's presence.]

[audio]

[zackthekiller]

You too, huh...?

[Thanks for reminding him of the one girl he didn't get to say goodbye to.]

[Video]

[mettatonvevo]

Me too what?

[He sounds brusque. He doesn't have much patience right now.]

Video

[naughty_nurse]

[Ah. Hm. Well. It's pretty obvious what happened, no point in telling him that. She feels bad - she liked Napstablook too, and while she doesn't know the family connection, he did share with her about their alternate timelines and the horrors of it all. She wonders if she should even bother to speak up at all, and yet...]

... I'll... look for him, but... until we find him... d-do you need anything?

Video

[mettatonvevo]

[Mikan! As helpful as ever, of course, and Mettaton's smile seems a little more genuine than it was in the initial broadcast.]

Them, and thank you darling! I don't think I need much of anything right now, but knowing there are some extra eyes on the look out for them is a balm.

Video

[didntknowbest]

Mettaton... I appreciate, that a friend of yours has departed.

However, was it really necessary to plaster these things everywhere as you have? [Toriel raises her other hand, to display a number of posters.] They were all over my door, and all over the kitchen- which made it very distracting as I was trying to cook. Several of them were plastered on the space between cabinets, requiring them to be peeled off in order to open them.

Video

[mettatonvevo]

[Mettaton raises an eyebrow, looking completely serious and puts a hand on his hips.]

Yes, it was absolutely necessary. They're not departed, they're missing Toriel, and the more visibility there is, the more likely they are to be found.

[video]

[deadshapes]

Hey, uh.

[She wants to apologize, but he's in denial mode right now. She figures maybe acting like this friend of his is gone would just make things worse.]

Hey, I haven't seen them, but I'll...keep an eye out? They seem like a really cool ghost. I've never met a real ghost before.

[video]

[mettatonvevo]

[Mae. It's been awhile since these two have seen each other- it was the mirror event, he thinks. It's kind of her to offer, especially since she doesn't know him or Napstablook that well and he smiles.]

They are very cool. They're one of the best DJs I have ever known. They're pretty distinctive so if you see them, it will be rather obvious. That's what the posters are for!

video;

[mr_englishguy]

Mettaton, I'm so sorry. I'm going to check the grounds and see if I can find him. I know how it feels, but don't give up hope until we're sure.

[Even if hearing what he's saying worries Newt. He hasn't faced this yet about those he cares about in this place but he's lost friends and who knows how many before he's done in this land.]

video;

[mettatonvevo]

[It's good to see Newt here and Mettaton smiles gratefully at his words.]

Them and yes, exactly! There's no giving up until it is sure, and I am sure they're still here.

[He says it with such conviction that it would be sweet if it wasn't so obvious that they were gone.]

action if thats ok

[fancylad]

[Angus notices the missing ghost posters first. He takes one off the wall of the third floor hallway, with unspoken apologies to the person that posted it, taking careful note of the ghost pictured on the page.

He could have met this ghost person at any point during his short stay here so far. He's spoken with several people solely through text, never seeing their faces. He doesn't know. But they're missing, and ruminating on whether they're a familiar presence or not only helps up to a point.

He notices the post to the network next. He takes note of the dodge of whether the ghost's -- Napstablook's -- room is empty. It could mean anything, and if Angus is going to get more information on this missing person case, he's going to have to ask the source.

Thankfully, after Angus reviews the recorded post a few times to take in every detail before responding, he hears the click of Mettaton's metal boots as the robot walks nearby, ostensibly heading toward the library.

Angus follows him inside. When Mettaton starts to put up another poster, the boy detective addresses his prospective client.]

Hello, sir! I couldn't help but notice your, um, your posters and your network post.

[He clasps his hands smartly behind his back, friendly smile on his face. All business.]

Absolutely!!! Love me that good Angus

[mettatonvevo]

[Mettaton jumps a little, having for once been completely unobservant of everything around him. He manages to stop from dropping the rest of his posters and turns to face who addressed him.

Oh. It's Angus. If anyone can find Blooky, this self-proclaimed world's best detective probably has the best shot!]

Angus! Yes, yes, my dear friend Napstablook has gone missing. I think they've been missing for over a week now.

[And it took you that long to notice, huh, Mettaton? He tries to swallow the guilt.]

action | I promised spelunking you're getting some damn spelunking

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper spends a lot of time down in the caves. They're so cool and weird and even better than that.... quiet and free of mirrors. He can't be spied on here. Sometimes, that's just what he needs. Sure, he covers his mirrors and breaks them when he really needs the privacy, but they're always there. Being down here, there's a weight that seems to lift.

He looks up from the book he's reading when he sees Mettaton, his expression going from surprise to sympathetic as he registers who it is. He might not really be interacting with people, but he paid enough attention to the network to know why exactly Mettaton might be down here.]

Hey man. Uh, Napstablook's not down here. I mean... [He holds up a weird box with some lights and antennae sticking out of it] I guess if they're made of something other than ectoplasm they might be, but I haven't seen them.

action | you are the light of my life

[mettatonvevo]

[He's never really explored the caves before. They're kind of dirty and grungy and not in line with his aesthetic. But desperate times call for desperate measures and with the closet's help he has all the equipment he needs to explore a cave. Of course he's still wearing his heels because you can't go on expansive missions to find your cousin if you don't look cute.]

Dipper! What are you doing here?

[At first the distant sight of another form in the cave had given him a small jolt of hope. When he got closer the truth was revealed however and he swallowed the disappointment. This seems like an odd place for a human to hang out however. All the same though, he gives Dipper an appreciative look.]

So you saw my network post then? I appreciate you checking. Though I don't think I know what ectoplasm is? Ghosts are made of pure magic. At least in my world they are.

video »

[sorryitasedyou]

[ Oh, oh this is-- People going home is never easy. After quickly checking her device to see if she could get ahold of Napstablook through that, she reaches out to Mettaton. ]

Sorry to hear your friend is MIA. They seemed pretty nice the one time I helped them out with a scarf issue. It matters, though, the room thing. If you give me a floor and room number, I can go check it for you.

[ She's here to help work through avoidance by offering an out. ]

video

[mettatonvevo]

[Darcy! It's been awhile since they've talked and despite his own anxiousness over this entire situation with Napstablook, it's nice to hear from her again.]

Well. Yes and no. In the room case.

[He looks almost nervous.]

You're welcome to check. They're on the second floor, room 21.

[Please let her find something he didn't...]

[video forever]

[drummeintheface]

Blook is missing?

[video forever]

[mettatonvevo]

Yes, the poor thing. Have you seen them?