middaeg | (closed)

[ they were family, but never of the blood variety — mettaton knows, because implicitly, if mikasa's the only one left of her lineage, eren does not count. that's how that works, right? it doesn't really matter to mettaton, though, and he takes more interest in the air about them. eren tries to control his own feelings with his environment and a short dismissal.

what could have happened between them...? (even if they viewed each other as family, they are totally at ex-status. somehow. it's just a mystery that needs unraveling.) ]

WITH THE BOTH OF YOU HERE, IN AEFENGLOM, TOGETHER... DOESN'T IT MATTER? NOTING YOUR HEAVY CLOAK AND SHIFTY BEHAVIOR, I'D HAVE TO GUESS THAT YOU'RE HOPING TO GO UNDETECTED. YOU CAN'T DO THAT FOREVER, EREN.

[ so his feelings... must be known. soon. ]

[ this shit again. eren’s heard it one too many times already, so it, in all honesty drags out an enervated sigh too tired to really lash out from. you can’t hide forever, eren!!! you can say bad things about your friends, eren!! you can’t kill civilians eren you can’t destroy the world eren!!!!!!!!!!!! ]

I didn’t know that. [ sarcasm is dreary and in full as he finishes off his tea, tips his head back once the cup settles to the table, and puffs out a tiny ring of smoke, one that expands the further it rises, until it dissipates. ] It doesn’t, Mettaton. Nothing’s changed.

[ he’s still moving forward, and there’s nothing anyone would be able to do about that. there’s also the Fae Problem, but eren still has yet to know to what extent he should trust more people with that weakness. ]

You said you cared about her. If you really do, [ —yes. yes, he’s decided, now, and says with a little more stern resolve: ] keep her away from me, and me from her.

[ — if it ever comes to that. ]

[ what a truly peculiar request to make of someone he cares for enough that he longs to see her so strongly, and mettaton makes a sort of gesture as if it's touched him by gracing his fingers over the front of his metal body.

nothing's changed, he says. keep her away, he says. is it because he's a dragon...? (dragons, mettaton has found, are very dramatic about how dangerous they can be. ...even though one very nearly killed him, so, fair point. BUT! that shouldn't seal away their needs for solitude! and besides, he doesn't think that's it. mikasa's strong.)

even though mettaton is a rectangle, he still... has puca ears... and it's the first time he's had them exposed rather than covered in fabric. they don't stand upright, not yet, but they twitch in their curiosity, like he'd be changing emotive state if they worked properly. recovery. ]

WHY DO YOU WISH TO PUSH HER AWAY? I HARDLY THINK IT'S FAIR, MAKING SUCH DECISIONS ON HER BEHALF. WHAT IF SHE WANTS TO SEE YOU? BECAUSE YOU CLEARLY WANT TO SEE HER.

[ why are you being dramatic, eren. mettaton needs some more information; he couldn't stop her, otherwise. he crosses his arms: if anything, it's a gesture that demonstrates his perplexity, but one where it should show that he'll consider it, given a good enough reason. because he does care. ]

[ now that’s reasoning mettaton would have to level up for just a little more to achieve. perhaps on a scale to what really happened, but thus far only elliot, his own bonded, knew (and even then, assumed that she’d be as easily forgiving as he was with his friends).

not the case. ]

She doesn’t. Believe me. [ if she’s from where and when he supposes, with elliot telling him how miffed she’d been about the idea of bonding, she wouldn’t want to see him painted gold. “like she just went through a bad break-up”.

. . . again with the assumption that they were ever together in the first place.

she’s left the vicinity, looks like, between their exchanges, and eren would like to keep it that way now. ]

There’s a price for everything— Let’s leave it at that.

[ mettaton doesn't notice her departure, without the same capacity for sensory bouquet that eren possesses, but it's just as well. he'd have to catch her some other time. eren's his company now, and he says much that remains cryptic. so many humans speak in such short words, and mettaton isn't sure if it's because they feel fundamentally misunderstood, beyond hope of being understood, or if they simply don't trust. why not come clean? if it were him, if he had some hesitation...

... no, he'd avoid it. he can't be hypocritical in this moment, though he could during others, at his whimsy. but how often is it that a human guesses at his own insecurities and problems? never. no human here has done as much, thankfully. the only person who has this robot figured out is an ascian, perhaps better equipped for the discovery. maybe it gives mettaton some respect for eren's space when he says "let's leave it at that" to think of his own reservations. even mettaton has the capacity to draw the line. ]

..... VERY WELL. WE WILL LEAVE IT AT THAT. THAT YOU WISH YOU COULD REUNITE WITH HER... BUT YOU'RE CONVINCED SHE WOULD NEVER RECIPROCATE.

I STILL THINK SHE'LL FIGURE OUT, HOWEVER! SHE'S VERY DETERMINED. I DOUBT ANYTHING COULD STOP HER... CERTAINLY NOT ME. IF SHE WISHED TO CLOSE IN ON YOU, FOR WHATEVER REASON... EVEN A SHOW-STOPPING STAR SUCH AS MYSELF COULDN'T GET IN HER WAY.

[ eren did you SEE how she rescued/kidnapped those kids??? (and how mettaton helped but that's besides the point??) he can't even distract her with his obvious sex appeal! jokes aside, he gets that sense from her. and whatever she wanted to do, he feels he'd be wrapped up in her designs rather than opposed to them. he is, after all, a monster-monster — he completely lacks determination. a sad truth. ]

[ —oh, dear. the robot gets a gold star for trying and for respecting boundaries, enough that eren corrects him. ]

It’s the other way around.

[ she had wanted to reunite, not him— and eren made it certain that he didn’t reciprocate. he tore the idea apart and spat it back to her. eren . . . sighs, though, leaning back with a bit of a more relaxed slump in his shoulders. pulling his hood down and carefully removing each horn from its hole. he tries his best to hide it, but deep there, in very expressive eyes, he tells more of a story than his lack of explanation does. ]

But I know she will. [ he couldn’t hide forever and when she did decide to come after him, if she did— she would. honestly, the thought scares him. it means he didn’t do things correctly. it means she’d still be in grave danger. it’d mean that she’d have the same capacity back home, and—

she couldn’t. nothing could stop him now, wasn’t it? ]

I just won’t facilitate.

[ he doesn’t think he has it in him anymore to break her again. his rationale says he must if need be but his heart couldn’t keep up in the way it had already shattered. ]

... HM.

[ is it. the other way around. . . ? mettaton puzzles over this. mikasa... wants eren. but eren... wouldn't reciprocate?

then why follow her... mettaton's screen is a mess of red and yellow, and he even emits a soft disagreeing sound like a floppy drive struggling to do its job like 20 years later. no, he simply doesn't buy it. if eren claims that it's the other way around, okay, but that means that there's more to the story than just not reciprocating.

something found in his eyes, maybe. in that sigh. it's complicated. for some reason, he feels reciprocating her desire to see him is impossible? (truly... love...)

mettaton raises a finger. ]

I HOPE YOU BOTH COME TO DISCOVER HAPPINESS, THEN. [ that finger rests against his "cheek", or what the equivalent might be. ] BOTH OF YOU SHARE A LOOK OF DISTANCE. A SORROW. WELL. ...WHO KNOWS WHAT COULD HAPPEN?

[ aefenglom is captivity, but it is also a sort of liberation from circumstance, as he's said to others before. whatever the hang-ups are, maybe it could be different here. ]

—Sure.

[ he’s not sure . . . what that means, not that it confused him but what was happiness?. that scenery is what made him go and move and fight, but zeke was right about one thing. how much of it did he truly comprehend? how much of not having the full picture would favor him, how much of it wouldn’t? would there really be happiness in the end—?

he hoped so, but eren had been far too deep into his motion to pull back and think otherwise. it was ride or die, and this time they had here— it was only a temporary pause. eren raises himself from the table, wanting to move, possibly to more crowded places to keep his mind light even if it felt impossible with all of this bubbling up again. not mettaton’s fault, obviously, but. he just needed to move, placing what he owed for the tea in the middle of the table and clattering his chair back into it. ]

Thanks for the thought.

[ even though sorrow won’t go away anytime soon. ]

[ of course eren would focus on his pursuits... when mettaton meant strictly happiness found with mikasa, as happiness takes on many shades. one could be dissatisfied with life and circumstance, yet find somebody's company somewhere where they could find solace. and no matter what eren tells mettaton, he's decided that mikasa has significance to him somehow. even if she's the one harboring feelings, and he's the one turning her away.

looking that upset about it, that distant, and... following her around. yeah.

mettaton offers him a heart on his screen as he, too, backs from the table. ]

IF EVER YOU NEED HELP, ON THIS MATTER. I'D BE GLAD TO DO ASSIST. SO LONG AS IT IS IN BOTH OF YOUR INTERESTS.

[ nothing that would ultimately hurt mikasa, that's for sure! relationships hurt, they do; no reward without risk, after all. so he's not going to give that cliche line of "i refuse to hurt her," because love hurts, feelings hurt, relationships hurt, but the reward exists. so expressing that he'd do what's in their interests sounds better to him. ]

AND... TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, DARLING. TREAT YOURSELF TO SOMETHING OTHER THAN SOME IDLE TEA!!

[ intentional treat, not treat-out-of-convenience-so-i-can-watch-mikasa. ]

[ the truth is, mettaton is a grade-a sleuth and can smell love across continents. eren jaeger can’t hide (even though he hadn’t lied— interpretation, and all of that).

it’s still day, though. he has some work to do with his notebook, maybe some snooping around himself, and preparing for future expeditions. in his head. count his knives. do something to keep his mind occupied, preferably something that was productive. ]

Whiskey, then.

[ whiskey in the middle of the fucking day, yes. his problems are dire and he needs to relax the edge in his shoulders just enough to actually be productive. his almost emerald eyes are lusterless, and he moves forward, without complaints, and just a simple wave. whatever it took to keep going, he’d do it. no questions asked.

even if it meant emotionally stress drinking. humans sure do have strange ways to cope. ]

See you, Mettaton.

Edited 2020-03-30 22:30 (UTC)

[ the robot returns the wave with a call out to him in finality. can mettaton ever not get the last word in? ]

IF I EVER FIND YOU BEYOND YOUR SENSES... I'M TAKING YOU HOME! WITH ME!! PRACTICE SOME SELF-RESTRAINT... OR, DON'T. AHAHAHA!

[ *THREATENING, THREATENING* with a heart on his screen? mettaton?? (he's thinking about his talons again...) but mettaton isn't a champion of avoiding addictive tendencies, since he's the indulgent type. go have a drink or five, whatever works for your lovesick heart, eren. ]

ENJOY YOUR WHISKEY, EREN-DARLING. [ how very human of him indeed. ]

(closed)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject