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[pleasereset]

If anyone comes across a building called Pay for Exchange, don't go in it.

[Asriel's voice sounds shaky and clearly upset with something. Maybe he should've switched to text, but he thinks it's too late now.]

They... they sell copies of people - people you can swap bodies with for a day. And they'll make copies of anyone who goes in their store, real actually alive copies too.

[Asriel's still sick to his stomach that he found "himself" for sale, but clearly the people on this colony didn't exactly see why it was a problem to sell living, unconscious bodies. But he's too scared to go back...]

J-just stay far away from it, okay? They don't ask you or anything, and they don't have any problems making a copy of you and putting it up for sale.

[ooc: Info for Pay for Exchange and what Asriel saw found here!]

Comments

[pleasereset]

[Think about nothing and everything...

Asriel folds his hands over his chest, keeping his eyes on the ceiling above. It doesn't really work at first, his mind drifting to all the little details of the ship. How confining it is, how the metal blocks out a void of darkness and stars.

This probably isn't what Mettaton meant.]

I don't think I'm getting it...

[But he tries again. It's not about the ship, right? He's just gotta think about nothing. Think of something bigger than what he is and where they are. He thinks of a blue sky stretching across, filled with clouds of different shapes. He tries to imagine them in a grassy field, covered with flowers and trees. If he thinks hard enough about it, he remembers the scent of them. He remembers a cool breeze.

In this memory, there's no human village. No threat or danger.

Just them, and the surface that Asriel keeps dreaming about returning to.]

[mttbrandlegs]

Just relax, honey.

[Mettaton speaks quietly, encouragingly. It's not something you just pick up, even if it seems easy. But once you do...once he finds his zen, so to speak, everything begins to fade around the edges.

The magic behind it is simple and subtle. Somehow it starts to look as if the stars are finding their way into the ship, appearing on the ceiling and hiding the metal.

Like he said. It's quite therapeutic.]

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[It's a little hard to relax like this. But as Asriel tries to lose himself in this daydream, he scoots himself a little closer...

And a little closer...

Until his head bumps against Mettaton's stomach. Even without recent events, Asriel's always been a little affectionate and clingy. Chara got the same treatment whenever they'd spend time in the garden, laying there and talking about the surface and all the things they wanted to do when they got older.

This is much better.]

[mttbrandlegs]

[Perhaps it is testament to how close they've grown at this point, but Mettaton just smiles a little when Asriel bumps against him. It's almost automatic how his hand finds its way to the top of the young boss monster's head, gently petting the fringe of fur there and only bumping his tiny horns once or twice.

He likes this. This is a good way to be, and he's happy that Asriel is sharing this moment with him.

Suddenly, his homesickness doesn't seem entirely overwhelming anymore.]