catnap with destiny [open]

[regalduchess]

...Perhaps it is true that cats have nine lives.

Three days after the crocodile, Duchess wakes up in the same place she'd died (swiftly, not fast enough for blood to stain past the collar). She's curled up as if in a light catnap on the windowseat in one of the halls, but the dust on the velvet cushions betrays the truth.

Duchess opens her eyes slowly against the light that filters in. Warmth puddles on her back, slips away on her shadowed paws and tail curled under her body.

...despite how nice it feels, she still has a phantom ache in her throat. She'll sit at the windowseat for a while, alternately grooming her fur into perfection or soaking up the sun.

A little later, she'll pad down into the gardens and inspect the newest... additions to the landscape.  It's entirely possible that anyone could run into her, either at the windowseat, the gardens, or anywhere in-between.

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[mettaton_rex]

Mettaton goes looking for Duchess, eventually. He isn't feeling any better about anything, but he looks better after retreating to his room for a while and changing into a new outfit. Looking good is the first step to feeling good, right? And this way at least the shattered mess containing his SOUL isn't showing.

He finds her out in the gardens. Still not his favourite place to be, but he doesn't care too much right now.

"There you are, darling!" He manages a smile, albeit a strained one. "...are you all right?"

[regalduchess]

"I am doing quite fine, your highness." It's to humor him. He looks like he's excited about something (or majorly upset) and either way, getting in the way of his passion can't end well.

"I just..." he's an adult. He can handle it. "I had a run-in with a giant crocodile, but everything is fine now. How are you?"

[mettaton_rex]

...well. Of course, she doesn't know he knew that. She doesn't know what he tried to do.

(He's having a hard time explaining to himself now why seeing those few scraps of fur made him so enraged, and so reckless. He likes Duchess, and she didn't deserve to die like that, but it's not like they're actually close.)

(Of course, no one he does care deeply for has ever died. That has never ever happened.)

"I'm - ha. The same, actually. I mean..."

No, he can't keep this up at all. His expression crumples. 'Majorly upset' is clearly the issue here. He covers his face with one hand, looking away.

"I know what happened. I wanted to make sure - that you were back, too."

[regalduchess]

She waits patiently for Mettaton to tell her the truth. That's the thing, she's learned, about truth; it will come out, either easily or hard.

When she tells him, Duchess purrs sympathetically and rubs up against his leg, tail curling in the air.

"I am back." Back too? So he--

"My dear highness," okay, she really can't resist calling him a dear of some stripe, "are you alright? You aren't too damaged?"

[mettaton_rex]

"I'll be fine." Which implies that he's not right now, of course, and he realises even as he says it that he can't leave it at that. Even if Duchess doesn't press him any further right now, they're still in the play together. She'd find out eventually. "I - there's some damage left, but it looks worse than it is. Nothing serious."

...it's pretty serious.

[regalduchess]

She knows he doesn't want to talk. Pressing the issue will only make the both of them upset, so she gracefully inclines her head. "Alright. Do get better soon. We wouldn't want you to need any replies before the play, now."

[mettaton_rex]

"Hah, of course not. The show must go on!" Words to live by. To tell himself over and over until it starts to feel true again.

For the first time, he crouches a little, to be closer to her level. "I've performed with worse, it'll be fine, Duchess-darling."

[regalduchess]

"Every good show contains an intermission to allow the audience to digest."

It's both a fact-- they are the best, and a plead-- for Mettaton to rest.

She bats him gently in the face with her paw. "I'm sure you will perform beautifully."

[mettaton_rex]

"Of course I will!"

The gentle bat to the face gets a surprised little laugh out of him. He extends a hand to reciprocate with a scratch behind Duchess' ears, pausing to ask "May I?"

[regalduchess]

"Oh, yes, please." She squints her eyes shut and purrs, accepting the scratches.

"Be sure to pin up that dress, dear, so you don't trip."