that's not what we usually mean by 'dance with death'

[cherryblooded]

[That certainly did happen. Cherryblod's not the type of person who will judge one person's value as being more than another's, so he can't say whether it was better or worse than the first week. It came as less of a shock, maybe, but even so...

It's not the kind of thing people usually want to go through alone.

So, after he spends some time in the kitchen preparing (with assistance from Bruce), he'll slip some personalized notes under everyone's doors.]

[Name],
If you'd prefer to spend this time alone, that's fine.
If you'd prefer not to, I've made some food and set it out in the dining hall.
Even if you're just hungry and would rather not talk, feel free to come take some.
But if you'd like the company, we're here for you.
-Cherryblod

[Those arriving in the dining hall will find an assortment of food - a fair number of sandwiches and other, actual meal-like options since most people missed a meal or two, but also a goodly number of desserts. There's tea, as well as coffee for those who favor it.]

Comments

[ratingspoint]

Well, why not snails?

[He asks, like that is an explanation in and of itself.]

My cousins...they're all disasters, to be honest. Though most of them left the farm in Waterfall, because they actually decided they wanted to do something with their lives. One of them is still there, though. I was pretty close to them when we were growing up, but not anymore - I haven't spoken to them in ages.

[...Mettaton, that answered, like, nothing.]

[captainobnoxious]

[Seriously. You didn't even answer if they were robots too.]

That answered nothing, honey. Why aren't you two close anymore?

[ratingspoint]

...Because I knew what I wanted for myself, and they didn't seem to want anything. That's what it comes down to.

[Not that he's bitter or anything.]

Don't get me wrong, they're...important to me. But if they had their way my life and career would have been on hold indefinitely, and that wasn't something I wanted.

I mean, sure, I promised to stay with them after our other cousins left and I went back on that. Fine. But it's not like it's my fault that I got an opportunity to change things for myself and they weren't willing to do the same.

[captainobnoxious]

That's a good reason to leave home, even if it means straining your relations. You've gotta live life while you can.

[Can't force it one way or the other, from the sounds of it. Though Sigrun's not familiar with siblings and all of her cousins are on the same page as her. What's she know?]

I mean, I don't know how safe you guys are in the Underground -- minus the human that's not going so well -- but it's the same kind of thing with my world, you can't just sit by and let things pass you! You've gotta grab it while it can and the second it comes up! That's how I was chosen by my uncle for the mission I'm supposed to do, I showed initiative.

[... That's a nice way to call it.]

And so did you. So you got to be a star. Even if you have a boring life.

[ratingspoint]

My life isn't dull at all now, actually. It's just the sort of thing that I can't imagine you doing.

[It's pretty much performing 24/7, after all.]

I've burned my share of bridges, sure. But it's been worth it - I've never thought that it hasn't been.

[captainobnoxious]

My performances are just different than yours, but what connects them is bloodshed. Everyone loves to hear a good troll hunt story where I'm from and I've got plenty.

[They're not so different after all, Mettaton.

no they're extremely different that just the only similarity]

Next question: Why a snail farm? What's so good about them? Do you eat them or something? Well, not you you, but you know.

[ratingspoint]

Darling, I would have stayed if there was anything good about them. Trust me, snails suck.

But apparently some people eat them. Boss monsters, usually - if anyone else does, I don't know about it.

[captainobnoxious]

What's the difference between a boss monster and everyone else. Are they just stronger or something? Maybe snails are the secret and you just don't realize their sucky, slimy potential.

[Tell her about Homestuck Undertale.]

[ratingspoint]

It's more to do with their souls than the snails. They aren't as powerful as humans, so it's just temporary and they won't stay for too long, but their souls stay around after death.

There are a few of us in each region that are stronger than the others. At least one of the skeletons in the eastern caverns has potential, and there are a lot of members of the Royal Guard in that area. Undyne is in Waterfall - she's the captain of the guard that I mentioned, she'd love you. And where I work...well, there's me, of course. And my creator is pretty good with magic and technology, but she doesn't fight.

We're all pretty powerful, but we've got nothing on boss monsters.

[captainobnoxious]

So humans are the boss monsters of all boss monsters, if we're going by strength and souls and whatnot. That's a weird kind of ranking though.

[... But the snails could be important. Eat some.

Also look, he sounds normal again. More normal. Not... sultry or anything that was highly uncomfortable. Sigrun pats his chest proudly.]

Are they usually your generals then? The kind of people that'd take care of any problem?

[ratingspoint]

[Good! That's good. ...Don't mess with his dial again.]

They're our royalty, actually.

[captainobnoxious]

[She won't!! ... Probably.]

Yeesh. I'll be real, royalty's an oldworlder thing, we don't have anything like that anymore. They're just super rich to me.

[Super rich with many valuables they're not using anymore.]

How's royalty act? Like the bird or like Caren?

[ratingspoint]

...More like Cherryblod, actually. At least, that's what King Asgore is like.

[Asgore is everybody's dad.]

[captainobnoxious]

[A fussy dad.......]

I guess they really are just people with big houses.

[Cherry's good people. If royalty's like that, then it's a damn shame that they all died during the rash.]

[ratingspoint]

...Big, poorly-named houses, in our case. King Asgore sucks at names.

[captainobnoxious]

Did he name the places you guys live too?

[Waterfall. Hotland.]

[ratingspoint]

[...Snowdin.]

Please. It's really sad, but most of those are more creative than anything he comes up with. He could have named the original place monsters settled in those caverns anything he wanted, and he named it "Home."

[...]

After a while we moved our center of operations to a new home. He proceeded to name it "New Home".

[captainobnoxious]

[holy shit]

You weren't kidding. I would've called the first one kind of nice since it's your home, but New Home. Does he have kids? Tell me he doesn't.

[ratingspoint]

Only one, to my knowledge, though I don't remember much about him. Other than yes, his name was terrible. Asgore's wife - well, his ex-wife now - is named Toriel?

...Their son was named Asriel. Draw your own conclusions.

[captainobnoxious]

... At least he's a good person.

[Names aside, Cherryblod's good people and so is this Asgore guy if they're anything alike.]

Is his former lady any better, do you know? Maybe they balance each other out.

[ratingspoint]

Toriel...?

[Hmmm.]

I don't know her all that well. I would see her once in a while in the ruins, though. My cousin and I used to go there sometimes - they liked it there because there aren't many people.

But from what I remember Toriel is sweet. She's really cute, too.

[captainobnoxious]

What are they? Like, monster-wise. Golems?

[are they fuzzy. maybe they're cat-like, cats are sweet and good people.]

[ratingspoint]

Remind me to draw them for you sometime! They're definitely not golems, though, they have fur.

[So yes, they are fuzzy. You are also talking to someone with no proper frame of reference for nubian goats, so uh.]

[captainobnoxious]

So they are cats then! Cats are good people, bombshell, they're sweet and affectionate and extremely useful in not dying when you're outside the walls.

[... you know, like in all her stories. the people of the future (?) are cat fanatics]

You're lucky to have a pair of them leading you!