Metalocalypse: Impending Doom

Chapter Twenty One: Toki

Toki didn't feel safe enough to go in Salem's room. A putrid stench was wafting from the doorway, though the others seemed unbothered by it as they filed in to try and help Salem. Not just that, but it was obviously going to be too crowded with him in there, he felt he wasn't nearly close enough to Salem to be in their personal space, and in general, something in his head seemed to be warning him against going in.

That also meant he had to deal with Nathalia, who was standing right next to him. Her face was blank and expressionless, eyes staring through the doorway while the others were trying to do what they could. No, she actually didn't seem that numb to her emotions at all. She looked almost bored, or in a haze. Like she didn't really understand what was happening, or maybe she was currently blocking it from her mind. Maybe she was too preoccupied with other thoughts.

Toki didn't particularly care. His face still hurt from the kick and he was more than just a little salty about it, but he didn't know how to manage these emotions. He'd been angry before, but he also felt a mix of betrayal and offense that seemed to be fueling the fire, and it felt more than he could handle.

He felt and saw out of the corner of his eye, Nathalia's own eyes drift a little toward him and so he moved off more to the side and craned his neck to see if he could watch whatever was going on in Salem's bedroom, mostly as a distraction. He hoped that Tobias and Abigail would show up soon behind them to break the tension somewhat, but they didn't. Luckily, Nathalia didn't look angry anymore, and wasn't looking at him with any malicious glaring. That didn't mean Toki wasn't still angry.

Nathan and Skwisgaar left the room finally, with the Klokateers steering Salem's unconscious body to presumably the medical ward where Pickles was currently located. Nathan leaned against the wall nearest to him, looking disgruntled, and Skwisgaar was smoothly avoiding direct eye contact with everyone.

"They said they're gonna be fine," Nathan growled, and Toki swallowed heavily when nobody else spoke up for at least thirty seconds.

So he went ahead and said, "Yat... ams goo's." His jaw and tooth still hurt so he couldn't move his mouth as well as he'd like to, and his even more broken English bounced through the mostly empty hallway. Nathan quickly glanced at Toki, then looked away again, and Toki couldn't really understand his expression or what he could've been feeling in that moment. He just knew he felt embarrassed at the fact that Nathan now knew of the stupid crush that he'd been trying to suppress ever since he had that talk with Pickles.

And was the fact that Nathalia took on a lot of Nathan's attributes, really the only reason he might actually like her? He wasn't so sure, but a wave of guilt and confusion and frustration washed over him, making his stomach feel queasy. She wasn't so much like him anymore, anyway.

Skwisgaar was standing next to Toki and refused to glance over at the other, but muttered quietly, "How's ams your face?"

Toki just shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it right now. He didn't really want to talk at all, considering he was still in a bit of pain when he tried to.

"Where the fuck is Murderface?" Nathan demanded suddenly as he looked over what was left of everyone in both bands, minus Tobias because they at least sort of knew where he was and that he was currently okay.  Toki saw Nathalia tense next to him, but didn't have time to butt in as Nathan kept musing. "Two- three, people dead, Pickles half dead, and Salem half dead, Murderface nowhere to be found. Something tells me uh, something doesn't want us to make this. This collab a thing."

"Oh did you come to that conclusion on your own?" Nathalia said with snarkiness in your voice, and Toki bit his cheek with anxiety. "Did you finally figure it out after half of my band's been destroyed because now it's affecting you, too?"