TENNA

[frostythehitman]

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w0, sunday

[frostythehitman]

[ drinking at the bar post-dancing! ]

So where'd you learn all that disco?

[smashcut]

Oh, you know, movies, reruns of old shows... We have the music channel too, but that's kind of for a different audience.

[ sips his drink! ]

Asgore also had some disco albums in with the rest of his old music, so I used to hear it just playing around the house on occasion too.

[frostythehitman]

Sounds like you've spent a good amount of time really getting to know it, then.

[ i hope it looks like he's sipping out of a thimble ]

[smashcut]

[ yeah it looks hilarious. i keep imagining every drink having a tiny, tiny umbrella for extra comedic effect. ]

I guess so! What made you interested in it?

w0, saturday

[frostythehitman]

[ welcome to the titty typhoon, where bucky is currently nursing a drink and staring at the wall! ]

[smashcut]

[ that's a mood... tenna grabs a tiny drink and sits down next to him with a sigh. ]

Long day, huh?

[ it looked like he worked really hard on that foot check... ]

[frostythehitman]

[ my POINTLESS FOOT CHECK!!!!! ]

Definitely one of the longer ones I've ever had.

[smashcut]

Ha... Yeah, I don't usually have to go that long without a break unless the family's watching some kind of marathon.

w2, monday

[frostythehitman]

[ staring at all the romantic decorations around the mansion... ]

Oh, no. They better not be starting with this again.

[smashcut]

Oh, I this aesthetic!

[ haha that was a pun. it wasn't very good. ]

Though, haha, I can't say I don't understand your personal aversion after last week!

[frostythehitman]

Understatement of the year.

You weren't involved in that, were you?

[smashcut]

Of course not!! Encouraging ROMANCE is one thing, but watching relationships crash and burn is the last thing I want to do! ESPECIALLY if there are kids involved!

[ even imaginary ones... ]

w3, monday

[smashcut]

[ the trap doors open up and a memory plays. another little montage, the same song and dance everyone is accustomed to after nearly a day of this.

what makes this memory different from the others is the point of view it's coming from. this isn't the perspective of tenna the darkner, ruler of tv world. it's the perspective of an old crt tv in a family's living room. ]

Christmas has always been his favorite time of year. He gets to watch the family decorate the tree and exchange gifts. He gets to hear those same nostalgic holiday tunes playing throughout the house year after year. He smells all the delicious food Toriel makes for Christmas dinner. (Well. Okay, he pretends he can smell it on the air that flows through his vents. It's good enough! He can imagine it just fine!) Sometimes he even gets to dress up for the big day himself, if Toriel drapes that little snowflake doily over his head, or if Azzy gets his antennas tangled up in the string lights, or if Kris covers his sides in little candy cane stickers.

He's never lonely during this season! School is out and the kids are home, sometimes even bringing the neighbor kids over to play games or watch TV. He's heard their house is a veritable Christmas wonderland, with festive decorations up all year long. He's never seen it and he never will, but that's okay! He's got everything he REALLY needs right here! Here, in the Dreemurr family's living room. The only place in the Light World that he's ever seen since the day he was first unboxed and plugged in.

Here, he's the star. The center of everything! The sofa and chairs in the living room are all angled toward him so everyone can get a good look at the wonderful things he has to show them... but what he likes best of all is when the kids sit down right there on the floor, right in front of him. Their happy faces are lit up both figuratively and literally as they gather in his glow to watch all their favorite Christmas specials. The old claymation classics, the cartoons, the feel-good movies all about the importance of family. He plays them all with pride and enthusiasm, even if the tapes are a little worn out by now. When they're watching him, everyone's happy, smiling and laughing together. This is what he was made to do! Where he was meant to be! Here, with this family he thinks of as his own.



And then it's the new year, and the decorations come down. Kris is told to scrub off the adhesive residue the candy cane stickers left behind. Asgore and Toriel go back to work, and the kids go back to school.

It's quiet.

But at least there's still the weather channel! The evening news! The Saturday morning cartoons! He's still got a purpose. He's still the focal point of the living room. He's still needed. He's still wanted.

It's only 49 weeks until next Christmas.

[frostythehitman]

[ ...huh. this is kind of rocking his entire perception of tenna. he has seen and experienced a lot of weird shit in his life but congrats! this one is beyond him. ]

So...you were this family's TV. [ he'd mentioned that before, but bucky didn't think it was meant so literally.... ]

...when did you get the rest of your body?

[smashcut]

[ the family being three fluffy goat people and one human kid is probably also a surprise.

tenna definitely looks like he was getting lost in that memory but bucky's (my phone just tried to make that vicky's why) voice shakes him out of it. ]

Oh! Ha! No, this, uh, this is just how I am in the Dark World. In the Light World, that's still me!

[frostythehitman]

[ vicky barnes....

also honestly undertale's been around for so long now that i'm like yeah fluffy goat family + one human kid is totally normal and not remarkable at all ]

So you...transform between different worlds?

w4, monday

[smashcut]

[ tenna is just standing in the festively decorated mansion with a mug of hot chocolate in his hands, screen glowing warmly as he looks at the christmas tree with a soft smile on his face. a perfect picture of holiday contentment.

the emotions he's giving off, though... are a lot more complicated and layered than the scene might suggest. on the surface, there's happiness, nostalgia, and feelings of familial love; but beneath those warm and fuzzy feelings, there's also grief, loneliness, self-hatred, and existential fear, all spreading and mixing in everywhere like an ice cube melting in a hot bowl of soup.

oh, kris, you miss it too, don't you? friends and family gathering together for the holidays... gathering around me. weren't we all just so happy?

i still have all those specials you loved. so why don't you want to look at me anymore? if you'd just give me a chance to make you remember how to smile... ]

[frostythehitman]

[ don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it--

--huh. he didn't know what he expected from this scene but the vibes here were not it. Bucky doesn't know what to do with this so he'll just go up and give Tenna two awkward pats on the shoulder. ]

There, there?

w6, friday

[frostythehitman]

[ finds the big guy on the beach...walks over to him. ]

Hey. How you holding up after yesterday?

[smashcut]

[ kind of startles from where he was staring out at the ocean and dissociating ]

Haha. I, uh. Think I was better yesterday than today!

[frostythehitman]

[ damn. that's a fucking terrible bar. ]

...makes sense. They were both on your team, after all.

[smashcut]

Yeah. Ha.

[ sighs. ]

Vanilla's my roommate, and Rui's helped me out with all kinds of stuff.

w6, sunday

[smashcut]

[ well. that was awful. tenna's outside somewhere smoking another cigarette and projecting the vibes of ben affleck on the balcony. ]

[frostythehitman]

[ walks up ]

I'll trade you some whiskey for another cig.

[smashcut]

You got it.

[ grabs one out of the now less than half full carton in his pocket — still fumbling around a bit; his fine motor skills haven't completely recovered even if his hands are functional again — and hands it over. he'll just use the end of his own to light it up. ]

Awful end to a terrible fucking week.