Chapter Text
It was, for all intents and purposes, a normal day in the Dremurr household - or as normal a house could be with a human teenager, a goat mother, a purple monster with fangs like a dragon, a fluffy goat boy prince, and, of course, the anthropomorphic television set with severe abandonment issues. Toriel had long given up on attempting to figure out her life now that Lightners and Darkners lived together in relative peace and harmony. Still, she found it prudent to stick to the day to day tasks that didn’t create the strange existential crisis of using an object so often that it was given sentience. That was why, on that fine dewy morning, Toriel had arranged the lovely task of spring cleaning. It was a shame that the inhabitants of her home did not share her enthusiasm.
“It has to be done,” Toriel gently chided them. “There’s so much muck in the house from the adventures.”
With grumbling and low hanging heads, it was agreed upon that spring cleaning would be conducted. Items were to be put away and surfaces were to be wiped down. It should have gone fairly quickly, but like many things in life, there were bumps in the road. The house was far dirtier than Toriel had anticipated. Cleaners would have to be hired. She made a brief phone call and set up the appointment. It was a fairly simple transaction that was soon complicated by the discovery that they were low on groceries, the DVD and library books needed to be returned. What was meant to be a simple day of cleaning was quickly turning into a day of multiple errands. The roll of thunder did not improve her mood either. It looked like a severe thunderstorm was coming right around. With the clock ticking and the cleaners arriving at any moment, decisions had to be made.
“Okay, the cleaners will be here in fifteen. We’ll go to the library first, then get the groceries, and that should be enough time for the cleaners to be done and-” the thunder became more severe. “Tenna?”
The beloved family television set pulled away from his traditional broadcast of monster movies for Susie and replied, “Yes, my dear producer?”
“I’m afraid that we’ll need to unplug you for a few hours.” She knew what would happen, but it had to be done.
Oh, she had never seen him shrink so fast. He became as small as an ant upon his spot. “Unplugged? Why?” Tenna spoke in rapid fire succession. “Are my ratings that bad? I know that the last few seasons have been a little sloppy, but blame the writers, not the television!” He fell to his knees. “I promise that it’ll pick up. P-Please don’t unplug me! I swear I can still entertain you. I’ll do anything!” He sobbed into her apron and his tears weren’t lost on her.
“Oh Tenna, it’s not like that,” she picked him up and carefully held him in the palm of her hand.
“I-It’s not?” he hiccuped, holding onto her thumb.
“There’s a thunderstorm rolling in,” Toriel reassured him. “Check the weather channel and see. We’re not unplugging you because we don’t love you, we’re unplugging you to keep you safe. A power surge could kill you and I’d like to keep you on the air.”
“...okay…” Tenna sniffled. “I understand, b-but you promise you’ll plug me back in, right?”
“I promise.” She lowered her hand and allowed Tenna to take his seat in the family living room. He nervously eyed the plug as Toriel moved towards the electrical outlet.
“It’s just to keep you safe,” she reassured.
Kris patted Tenna’s knee. It was a silent, but firm ‘we’re here for you’. Susie’s reassurance was far more bombastic. “Yeah! The second the storm is over and we’re back, it’s movie monster marathon time!”
Oh, a marathon! That sounded fun! Tenna nodded, putting on a brave face. “I can’t wait!” But he eyed the outlet with fear. “Y-you’ll plug me back in? As soon as the storm is over?”
“As soon as the storm is over,” Toriel confirmed.
And with that, Tenna was unplugged. His screen went dark and he returned to his traditional lightner form: a simple CRT with a few scrapes and signs of age. It was lucky that he was unplugged when he was, because two minutes later, just as everyone was putting on their rainboots, the lights struggled to stay on. The stove, microwave, and A/C unit struggled through their power cycles before shutting down completely.
“That was close,” Susie sighed. She patted Tenna’s side and promised, “We’ll be back before you know it.”
The cleaners arrive promptly at 1PM. They were professionals. They knew exactly out to get mud out of the carpet, how to get windows shining without leaving any streaks, and they knew the exact worth of valuable items and how to ensure that they were well taken care of. When the cleaners stepped into the house and began their work, they didn’t pay much attention to Tenna beyond a cursory glance. It was only when they plugged into the vacuum cleaner and accidentally knocked Tenna over did they pay a great deal of attention to him. Tenna set hit the ground with a terrible THUD. The cleaners hissed in tense anticipation. Broken items meant money out of their paycheck, but when they saw the television, covered with a thick inch of dust and grime, their fears were quickly put to rest.
“Wow,” the first cleaner let out a low whistle. “When was the last time you saw one of these?”
“A CRT?” The second cleaner shook his head. “Didn’t think they still made things like this. It’s gotta be at least forty years old.”
“It’s gotta be trash,” the third cleaner mused. “Look at how dusty it is! It’s not even plugged in.”
The cleaners each looked at one another and agreed in an instant. The television was trash and it was now destined for the junkyard. With two cleaners lifting up the ancient set and the third flagging down the garbage truck, Tenna’s fate was sealed. He was thrown into the back of the truck, in the muck and rain, unaware that he was speeding towards his doom.