Mettaton pauses, biting his lip for a moment as he considers his words.

"I wouldn't say that it is bad, per se, but it's certainly not a casual subject matter."

He picks up the papers just to have something to fiddle with, then looks his cousin in the eyes.

"This project of mine has to deal with... death. And magic. And how those work together to make ghosts."

He almost continues for a moment, but holds himself back. Let's see how they react to that first.