mcu voice. tenna infodumping is right behind me again isnt he???
For Tenna he was the one teaching Kris and Asriel. He was the one watching over them. He was there when Asgore and Toriel weren't, he was ALWAYS there. The most helpless he ever felt was when Kris would get in trouble, and be banned from watching TV. They'd cry in front of his screen, and he couldn't distract them. Couldn't wipe away those tears by making them laugh. What a deadbeat older brother he felt like!
He has so much energy, and he's got so many big ideas. He's related the most to Kris (the outcast nonetheless beloved for their personality even as they aren't permitted to be anything but the clown, the tormented artist afraid they've lost their stuff, the family oriented child afraid of growing up and always missing their family...) just as Spamton relates to Noelle (never allowed to be yourself, suffering under the weight of expectations and success, craving the freedom they just can't ever reach, pitied by family, looking up to someone that also scares them…)
Kris would chase Noelle around to terrify her. Spamton confirms that Tenna has caused him critical, significant damage on more than one occasion, and was shocked to even learn Tenna carred— and what is it Noelle said? "It's been so long since I heard your voice." As if Kris refuses to talk to her outright, as if they don't care. But Susie and the others in class have certainly heard fron Kris! Even with us in their head!
Tenna loves all his family, but Kris is someone he felt could understand him. He certainly displays his understanding of Kris to a degree that comes off as vaguely stalkerish and creepy, yet he's the only guy in the whole cast who knows Kris isn't Kris anymore and seems to fucking hate it. Once again, Tenna feels he fails to be there for Kris.
All this to say by the time he gets to Cerise, he's worn to the bone, and he's trying hard to hate them. He's so sick of caring, and loving, only to be denied the chance to help them. Cerise does a lot of work on him, and works on a ton of other broken electronics too, in the shop. As a result, Tenna materializes in the dark world as a sort of… well, he sets up a speakeasy. Basically. A little dingy place that serves drinks with a stage for standup or karaoke. And yes, it's utterly miserable. Flickering lights and all.
Cerise falls through his screen one night as they sleep, slumped against his screen. They love the warmth of the glass, the hum of the static in their hair. The smell. The soothing sound of crackling, classic TV. A laugh track playing as they nod off.
It's a byproduct of surviving the prophecy, that Tenna can bend the rules— Tenna can pull people into the dark world on his own. He's cleaved in two after all. Half in the light world, half in the dark. He just doesn't know it yet.
Cerise thinks they're dreaming when they wake up. A bunch of darkners had crowded around to gawk at them, but when they stir, everybody scatters. Oh god, the angry fixer is awake. The dark goddess that breaks those she cannot save with her awesome healing powers. Vengeful and merciful alike.
Cerise is like okay. Wow. Crazy stuff… I need a drink. So they move to that door with the flickering neon, half the lights busted and sparking. Steps in, and glances at the clock. The bar is mostly empty, save for the… man… slumped over the counter. His voice is fuzzy. Sputtering like a bad signal. Says that "this shindig isn't open for business when the lightner is sleeping." Whatever that means.
Deep down Tenna still only sees value in entertaining his lightner, even as he's put that distance there. Not his family- just the lightner that owns him. Certainly not a GOD like the other darkners think, but darkners have always been stupid. He's better than other darkners. He's practically a lightner.
He hears that voice. He's heard it before. So soft and sweet, talking to customers. So bitter and cruel, sneering at cables when they don't obey her tools. Before she yanks and pulls, before she lashes out, and turns on those old tapes to calm down. He's seen her grow up. He saw the girl she was onstage and now who she is when she's not. He's seen it all. And now she wants a cocktail.
Probably whirls around so fast he nearly knocks her out with his big metal head. Not as big as he used to be- he's only 7 feet tall now. 15 was when he still had an ego to bruise. (But see how he's still taller thn everyone else. Still has that inflated worth. He's the lowest he's ever been, but still better thn his fellow darkners <3) Looks at Cerise, who is looking at the menu, bored. Glances up at him.
"Says you'll do a dance if I order the Tenna special." Cerise smiles. "So I want the special."
"Nobody orders the special." He says, voice flat, because he's sure- he was so sure he'd never talk to a lightner again. "You don't want the special."
"I'm special. I deserve it." Cerise jokes, because to them this is just another hallucination. A fun one, for once. Instead of imagining they've withered away entirely, or that the sun has burned out. A big, drunk robot man. Who will dance if they order a drink from his menu. How silly. How wonderful. "It's been years since someone danced for me."
And Tenna does still want to provide. Oh, how he aims to please. Wants to be father, brother, lover, best friend. He's always been greedy, and he wants it all. To be the center of every room and the name on everyone's lips. The person everyone wants to be. And who he wants to be is someone who still has the eyes of a lightner on him, and a family that won't turn away anymore.