Determination (Charisk) [OUTDATED]

86 - CAN YOU REALLY CALL THIS A HOTEL?

(CHARA POV)[F]

I walked into the building. The first thing I saw was a fountain bearing a statue of Mettaton.

Wonderful.

On the floor in front of it, I saw a SAVE shard. It looked like a tiny piece yellow glass, but the light reflected off it in such a way that made it look bigger. I wanted to reach out and grab it, but for some reason, I just couldn't. I couldn't make myself reach down and grab it, which was strange. I considered myself relatively 'in control' of my body at the moment.

My stomach growled, okay, maybe I was hungry. I love Frisk, I really do. But I need time to just think. And doing that near Frisk always made my thinking go... off track.

I entered the restaurant next to the elevator. Asgore's beard, this place is huge. I thought to myself. Everything was yellow, which I appreciated immensely, yellow being my favorite color. The cashier was a brown cat-like monster. He looked around my age, and he had dark circles under his eyes, which he tried and fails to conceal with makeup.

     "Welcome to MTT-Brand Burger Emporium, home of the Glamburger." He said in a very forced, cheerfully sweet voice. "Sparkle up your day (TM)." I looked at the menu. There was a sandwich that looked like a sword. And I needed it. "How can I help you, O customer?"

     "How much for the swordwich— I mean, Sandwich... Sword... Thing?"

     "The Legendary Hero is 300g."

     "Damnit." I checked my pockets. Empty. I doubt Frisk had much money left to spare, after she gave most of it to those starving children. (Wow, when I put it that way, my girlfriend sounds like a saint.) "I... don't have enough money for anything on the menu."

     "..." The cashier glanced over at the clock. "Whew... I'm on lunch break... wanna... come join me? Be a shame if... ah... capitalism" he gestured to all the Mettaton paraphernalia. "Kept you from a decent meal."

. . .

We sat outside (Asgore forbid anyone see an MTT-Brand employee "slacking off") and split the swordwich. Nothing except Chocolate and Frisk tasted better.

     "So," I asked, in between mouthfuls of sandwich. "Why are you working for the big rectangle?"

     "So," he started. "I wanted to be an ACTOR." He had already eaten his entire sandwich and was now lighting a cigarette with, admittedly bad, fire magic. "Take it from me, Buddy. You're still free! Don't live like me! I'm only 19 and I've wasted my entire life. Moral of the story: Never. Interact. With attractive people. Unless you're "one of them", they're just going to take advantage of you."

     "...I've met some..." My mind drifted to Frisk in a bikini. My cheeks felt very hot trying to regain my composure. "Attractive people. Not all of them suck. I think that's just Mettaton."

     "You don't understand, man. There was this time that these two chicks asked me to sneak them some glamburgers. And I, naive teenager that I was, said yes to them... Bad idea. So I went out into the alley to see those two ladies. And uh... see what would happen next." He took a long drag from his cigarette. "Then my boss, uh, saw me and asked what I was doing. I was so startled, the hamburgers in my pockets tumbled out onto the ground." What am I even listening to right now. "Not wanting to lose face, I scrambled to pick them up! But, as I was leaning over, the weight of the remaining hamburgers... caused my pants to fall down. Then the girls laughed at me. Everyone calls me Burgerpants now."

     "Well, there has to be one attractive person who hasn't screwed you over. Burgerpants was quiet for a while.

     "Okay. Let me preface this by saying that I do NOT find the Nice Cream Guy attractive, okay?" Oh my god. "Hey! Don't give me that look! I said I don't find him attractive... it's just... he's the only one who's been nice to me the past 3 years I've lived and worked and breathed this hell-hole."