hadriel_logs | Event Log: Dreamwalker the Second

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Event Log: Dreamwalker the Second

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the Dreamwalker part 2 event
Where: In your dreams
When: October 14th-20th (the second log will go up on Oct 23rd, please keep the two weeks of the event separate!)
Warnings: All different kinds of dreams falling under the umbrella of Delight, Rage, Sorrow, and Hope.

This time, the weird stuff doesn't happen when you're awake- as a matter of fact, your waking hours are the normal ones. That's because you're forced to sleep by some unknown entity, getting more and more exhausted by the moment as night falls. Better make sure you're always around a soft pillow.

Once asleep, it doesn't get any less weird- your dreams will be influenced by one of the four gods that make up the first week. Something to make you smile, something to make you angry- or something that reminds you of your deepest regret or most vulnerable hope, they're all things that you're dreaming about now for some reason, no matter how hard you may try to pull away from them.

To make matters more complicated, there are others intruding on your dreams who definitely don't belong there, and while they may seem like manifestations at first, it becomes clear that these others are actually the consciousness of other members of Hadriel, getting some top quality exposure to your angriest, happiest, most sorrowful moments. Hope it doesn't get awkward when you see them tomorrow...

► This log covers October 14th-20th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you die in dreams you don't die in real life, but if you somehow die in real life anyway, please let us know here.

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[From one frightening dream of imprisonment to the next...

Napstablook is thrown out into the center of the arena, the deafening cries and cheers filling their ears. They immediately want to run away - hide, or get far away from wherever they've been dragged to. However, someone seems to be blocking their path...

Normally the sight of Mettaton would be a welcome relief. But there's a frightening expression on his face as he gets closer. And what's that around his neck...?]

m-mettaton...?

[So, humans now? They throw him humans ripe for the slaughter? Cute, huh. And they even taught this one his name.

Better to know who's going to kill you right? It's all a game...it's always been a game.]

Running out of good fights, aren't they?

[The words are spoken coolly, with such detachment that it's almost as if this isn't the real Mettaton at all. He walks closer, his lip curled in an unceasing and surely off-putting smile.]

I'd ask you what your story is, but I don't believe it's all too important, since...haha...it'll be ending here.

I'd also apologize...but you know how it is, right?

[He rears a hand back once he's closer to Napstablook, as if he's set to behead his own cousin. But then, he doesn't seem to remember who this is.]

[It's Mettaton's voice, face, and everything, but with none of the kindness and concern he's shown his cousin so far. It was almost like he was in the middle of one of his shows... except this feels completely different.

Mettaton wouldn't... he still cared for them, didn't he?

His hand raises to strike them, and they recoil and throw their hands up desperately.]

m-mettaton, it's me! i-i-it's napstablook...!

[They cover their head with their arms, shrinking into a ball and shaking. They don't make any move to attack or run away.

*Looks like free EXP]

[Mettaton only pauses because of the cowering. It doesn't make for a good show when the opponents don't fight, and the fact that Napstablook won't angers him. Rather than strike at them, he reaches down and grabs the front of their clothes, pulling them to his eye level and glaring harshly. The smile twitches.]

FIGHT. Do you understand what's going on here? We have to do this...

[Mettaton...

It's them. It's them, it's them, it's Napstablook.

Why do you care?]

[Napstablook goes limp as they're lifted up. They shake their head desperately, their face soaked with tears. No they don't understand what's going on at all.

i-i can't...

[It's barely a squeak. What do you expect them to do, Mettaton? Napstablook has never been able to will themselves to fight. And even if they did...

What could a small, frail human do against a LV. 20 robot?]

i'm sorry...

[What indeed...

Mettaton glares down at the human version of Napstablook, his fingers curling so hard that his nails were digging past his gloves and into the clothing.]

Don't be sorry. Defend yourself. Make it interesting.

[As always, the robot had standards for how he killed. He wasn't going to just snap this fool's neck and be done with it. After what felt like ages, he had to be more creative than that.

Those tears...they were starting to bother him too.]

[The tears don't stop, of course. They can hardly see Mettaton's face through them.

Defend yourself. Make it interesting.

If this were like before, maybe Napstablook could treat it like one of the skits they used to do. Just them and Mettaton, acting out one of Mettaton's many ideas for shows and musical numbers that he "was sure humans would love".

But this isn't the same, and they squirm as metal nails dig into their clothes.]

mettaton please
don't do this
i don't want to die

[Then the answer of how to prevent that should be obvious, right?]

[Mettaton openly snarls at Napstablook, throwing them to the ground roughly. He hates how weak they are. He hates how weak he is.

But he can't stop. He won't stop. He has to do this, and so his boot slams roughly on their chest, heel digging into flesh. He has to. It's not about what his master wants anymore, he has to do this...because his SOUL feels nothing anymore, and he wants to know what emotions are again.

It used to be fun to ACT it all out, have fun! But there's no MERCY to be had anymore. He has to fight, to kill, to win.]

I don't want to die either. But someone must.

So tell me.

Do you want me to die?

[He smiles, daring them to answer at all.]

[They squirm painfully, face scrunched up in pain. They don't understand, they don't understand why he's attacking them.

One of them has to die. They don't want that to be their cousin.]

n-no... i don't...
so it... has to be me, right...?

[They're afraid of this. They're so scared.]

okay...
it's okay... i won't let you die...
i'll be brave...

[They're still not gonna fight, but Mettaton has the opportunity to kill them now.]

[Stop it stop it STOP]

BE BRAVE BY FIGHTING!!

[Mettaton's smile is wiped clean away again, replaced by anger and hate. But he can't maintain it, because the more Napstablook speaks, the more of the real Mettaton gains purchase in this emotionless game. He's not...unfeeling.

Not yet.

He remembers...he wasn't all lost.

So then why can't he spare them? Napstablook doesn't deserve a death at his hands. But if he's here, he doesn't have a choice. He can't break out of this, not the collar, not the bond of servitude that it represents.]

I don't...want to die...but I don't want to kill you either. There's no sport in it, there's...

[He feels, suddenly, as if something's crushing his heart and SOUL, and it hurts so badly. Guilt. Self-hate.

Mettaton steps away, practically stumbling. He knows who they are. How could he have forgotten? How dare he??]

I can't...you're my family...

mettaton please
let's go home

[They're tearful, they're desperate. Mettaton finally seems to recognize them, doesn't want to die either, and Napstablook doesn't want him to.]

i'm sorry... i just can't fight you... i don't want you to die either... i'm sorry...

But...if we don't fight, then...

[Mettaton is cut off by the sound of a voice echoing across the arena. A familiar voice, but definitely not one that Napstablook would know of.]

If you don't fight, then I'll make you. Stop wasting time, robot.

[Mettaton stiffens, glancing at his cousin helplessly.]

I'm so...so sorry...if I don't do something...he'll make me.

[He takes a few steps closer, but not because he wants to. He has no idea how to make Napstablook realize he has to. This...really had to be a nightmare, right? It wasn't real.

...Right?]

[Napstablook can only stare helplessly back. Being made to fight... and it didn't look like it was for some kind of show. Some man was addressing him in such a derogatory way.

What was this awful place?]

what... what can i do to help...?
what if you pretended to hit me...? would that work...?

[Oh, Mettaton doesn't need the suggestion to pretend hitting Napstablook. Unfortunately, he can't really pretend, so instead, he gives his cousin's side a good kick for show.

The audience--oh, was there an audience?--roared in approval, not knowing that Mettaton had held back quite a bit. He only hopes that Blooky plays along, but if they don't, it's not their fault.]

[Unfortunately, no matter how much Mettaton holds back, metal connecting with flesh is going to hurt. And it's right in the rubs too, so the little squeak of pain they give is real.

The audience cheering is as deafening as it is horrifying. But... apparently what they want is to see them get hurt so, they let out a low moan, writhing and trying to play up their injury as if Mettaton really did some damage.]

oooooo...
i don't think i'm strong enough to defeat you mettaton...

[Their acting... could use some work, to say the least.]

[Mettaton's pretty sure this isn't real at this point. If it was, then Napstablook wouldn't be human. This was the gods...but knowing that doesn't make his nightmare any less real. Perhaps it makes it even more real, at that, because even though he was doing it, he's fighting.

And yet...even despite all his best efforts, he couldn't affect this.

His master knows that they're faking, and so Mettaton is punished, driven to a knee as the electrical shock emanates from his collar. He lets out a stifled grunt of pain...and then nothing.

He goes deathly still.]

...Blooky. Please forgive me...for what I'm about to do.

[It wasn't enough, and Napstablook sees him drop, going still as the collar shocks him. They don't know what to do, they don't know how to stop this, but this was too much for them.

Why were all those humans so happy about all of this...?

Mettaton finally speaks, and they perk up with relief.]

mettaton...?

[That hurts him, more than anything else. It stings because the one part of the dream that made this easy--the implication that he'd lost his SOUL to the darkness of his own LOVE--was no longer valid. He'd broken that illusion.

Of course, because it was the one illusion which would have given him some release at this point. That was disallowed; he had to hurt. He'd come to terms with that at least.

Mettaton reaches out, his hand slamming against Blooky's chest, pinning them down and bearing his substantial weight on them. If they look to his face, they'll see no expression, really. He's like a blank slate.

Please forgive him...]

[This time, it does hurt. They can't move, not under the weight of a robot bearing down on them. Their own expression seems both pained and bewildered.

They squirm, but they're not strong enough.]

mett...

[It's hard to breathe.]

[Mettaton doesn't bother struggling. Instead, he lets everything happen, allows his owner to control his arm into pulling back. He only hopes that it doesn't give Blooky a sense that mercy is coming. Because it isn't.

After a short pause, his fingers slide down to the former ghost's neck, curling tightly around it. Napstablook's breathing would come short, then not at all, and Mettaton holds like that for a while, not because he wants to of course.

If it was up to him, this would be done already.

His lips move, and words that aren't his slip out:]

Sad little human. The odds were against you to begin with.

[Mettaton's wrist twists, hard and quick; enough to snap that thin, weak neck he's already crushing.]

[Their neck's being squeezed, and soon what little air they could breathe in doesn't come at all. They gasp weakly, like a fish out of water.

As Mettaton speaks to them, they barely register what he's saying. Their chest aches, they start to drift in and out of consciousness as their brain is deprived of oxygen.

They don't want to die.

They don't want to die.

They don't...

want...

...

SNAP!]

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Event Log: Dreamwalker the Second

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