UnderHappened

26 - Hotel

"Is this like... Romeo and Juliet or something?" Finn walks farther onto the stage, squinting at the tower-like props and other incredibly intricate decorations. Somebody really cares about their stage.

"It's... a tragic tale of two star-crossed lovers, kept apart by the tides of fate," the dummy reads from a poster on the wall. "Says it's almost time for the performance."

Finn snorts. "Doubtful anybody's gonna be showing up for it." They study the empty row of seats at the base of the stage. There's only one of them. Fourteen seats in total. "Doesn't look like anybody shows up for it normally, either."

"The poster says that Mettaton has more fans than anybody else in the Underground," the dummy informs them, floating over to hover next to them. 

"Just goes to show how few of you there really are," Finn says sadly, staring at the empty chairs. They look back at the tower. "This is a really impressive stage for a play with only fourteen audience members."

The dummy shrugs somehow without possessing either arms or shoulders. "We monsters like to pour our whole SOULs into things." He grins. "Like dummies. Those are perfect things to pour your being into."

"Ha ha," says Finn flatly, turning and walking towards the exit.

"What?! That was way better than any of that skeleton's jokes!" the dummy protests, following behind.

They exit the stage and step out onto yet another rocky platform, this one boasting a staircase to the left leading up and a staircase to the right leading down. The path straight ahead leads to another elevator, but Finn ignores that one; they're sick of dealing with elevators. They really just want to get this whole thing over with.

"Can you go down that staircase and check for monsters really quick?" Finn asks the dummy tiredly without bothering to look at him. "I'm gonna... take this path..."

"Well, of course, but..." The dummy pauses, watching Finn as they start up the left staircase. "Finn, you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just go."

The dummy, blessedly, accepts that without further comment, and Finn continues up the stairs alone. Blessedly alone. Because... well, no, they really aren't fine. But the dummy has no business knowing that. There's nothing he could possibly do.

They reach the top of the staircase and pause, studying the scene. In front of them is what appears to be a massive glowing upperclass hotel, complete with a red carpet leading up to the glass double doors. Inside looks extremely yellow and inviting, but Finn isn't interested in such a cheery atmosphere. They focus instead on the dark alleyways branching out on either side of the hotel, long and sinister. From where they're standing, it's impossible to see anything but the first few feet of them.

Perfect place for a murder.

Finn drags themself slowly up the right alleyway first. There's a gigantic red arrow painted on the ground in front of it, pointing to a strange structure at the very end. As they get closer, they find that the structure is actually some sort of ramshackle shop. Abandoned, of course, like everything else.

There's no piles of dust anywhere around the shop, so Finn turns and heads back down the alley, perusing the left alleyway next.

There's nothing there, either.

Disgruntled, but too tired to care, Finn walks back to the front of the hotel, where they meet up with the dummy.

"I didn't find anything," he says, looking at them anxiously.

"Great."

"Are you really okay?" The dummy hovers over them as they push open the doors to the hotel and walk into the welcomingly cool air conditioning. The main foyer of the hotel is large and fabulous, but empty except for a broken fountain in the middle and a couple of closed doors at the back garnished with the large sign "MTT Burger". There are two hallways branching out from the sides of the foyer, and a third straight ahead. Finn tries the one to the right first; it's full of hotel room doors, all of them locked.