"Put this in your mouth and push this down," Sarah explained gently as her hands guided Frisk's over the white inhaler that they were receiving. The soft hands hand been guiding Frisk's for a while now, moving them when they were in the wrong position, or pressing down a finger to show how much pressure was needed to be used. "Only push it once though, okay?" A finger tapped along something to show where the nurse was talking about.
Frisk nodded. That was indeed okay.
Sarah smiled and ruffled Frisk's head fuzz that was soon to be hair. "You're such a good patient. What will I do once you leave?" Sarah laughed a bit in her voice at that. "I'd say come visit me again, but I don't want you to have to be hospitalized again for a long, long time, ya hear?" Sarah joked, as if the child could control if they needed to be.
Since Frisk had been administered into the hospital, the investigations began on Frisk's behalf. This meaning that police, along with other agencies, had done research on why Frisk hadn't been treated for asthma before. They had been just looking into it, actually, but the hospitalization had brought upon a lot more interest in the child. A lot of interesting reports came in, actually, that made everything much more intriguing for the agents on the case. Like when Frisk was gone down in the Underground for such a long time and the parents didn't notify anybody. Their child was missing for an extended period of time, no reports, no claims, nothing. They had also discovered that for years now, Frisk had went unseen by any doctor or health related professional. This emergency had been the first for years now.
Needless to say, the police were suspecting heavy neglect by the time that they had even gotten to the fact that when the parents were question the parents, they didn't fully know what gender Frisk was. When they were administered into the hospital, of course the doctors and nurses knew their true gender, but respected Frisk's request of being gender-neutral and remained it at that. Upon further questioning, the step father, one of a major political position, didn't even truly know Frisk's age. The mother had known, but only because of the stretch marks and how long it took to get rid of them.
Immediately, the two were charged with neglect (and abuse on the step father's part) but were, to many's frustration, discharged once their powerful lawyers got involved. They signed the documents to release Frisk into the custody of Toriel, much to the mother's chagrin. However, the press had gotten ahold of the story and were having a field day with it. Pyrope had been getting heavy flames and was having to face the people. Having lost most of his support, the man was beginning to get very angry and it showed on every interview or press conference he had. In fact, majority of anything he did was try to cover up the events over the course of previous years.
Frisk thought it was kinda funny how mad he looked at time. His entire head would do bright red and even on television they were able to see veins throb in his face.
Since the parents were no longer able to take care of the child (or able to get in contact, really), Toriel has been prepping Frisk's new room at her house. They were getting an entire new closet of clothes, a twin sized bed with bright colored covers, matching curtains, a nice rug that filled a good chunk of the floor, even some toys! The two had picked out everything on Amazon while Frisk was in there. Toriel figured that it was a good idea to get some use of sitting around, getting rest, so she left a computer for them to use. And Frisk was content with everything that they had bought so far. They felt a bit bad about spending a lot of Toriel's hard earned money, but was reassured that there was enough to go around. (Monsters used GOLD to buy things! Holy crap!) Seeing as Frisk didn't have many belongings that they wanted, they were able to leave freely once they were discharged from the hospital.
Thankfully, Frisk was also getting much better both mentally and physically. The hospital had offered some art therapy for the child one afternoon for an hour. Frisk hadn't ever heard of the form of therapy, but found it very relaxing. Instead of a therapist and a couch, there was an artist who handed Frisk a mold of clay and told them to create whatever they wanted and Frisk was able to make a mediocre clay bowl with a few beads and jewels on it. They decided to give it to Sarah when they had gotten it back, and was now proudly sitting on the nurses' station, holding paper clips among other office supplies.
And pretty soon they would be able to do many things that they weren't before, like running or any other physical activity, thanks to their shiny new inhaler. Their lungs were already feeling a lot better and Frisk was now able to inhale much deeper than before, their chest expanding much further than they could remember ever being able to do. The first time that they had done it, they heard some popping coming from their back, making them laugh. Frisk was really just glad that they were going to have a better life. In fact, they were astonished at the last couple of days. It had kept them up the night before, thinking of everything that happened to them within the last two weeks.
Their entire life had completely changed. They weren't ever going to see Pyrope again, unless they turned on the news channels, that is. When Frisk had found out what happened to him and LOHAM, losing so much of their funding and support, the human couldn't resist a smile.
Frisk and the nurse began a new conversation, in which Frisk said a few words in. Halfway through it, however, a knock at the door caught their attention. Standing in the doorway was Frisk's new mother, Toriel. She had definitely seen better days before, this was clear judging by the new wrinkles on her face. (Could goats even get wrinkles?) But she seemed a lot more relieved than she did a few days ago.
"How's everything going?" Toriel asked politely, stepping into the room.
"Great! Just finishing up with teaching the munchkin how to work their inhaler." Sarah beamed and handed the child their new health instrument.
"That's good new to hear," Toriel sighed, shoulders seeming to slump slightly with relief. "Will they be able to come home today?"
"That depends on how they're feeling." Sarah turned to Frisk and nodded in a prompting sort of way, eyebrows lifting. When Frisk nodded with determination in their eyes, Sarah laughed and told Toriel that they should be fine to leave in that case. They had to talk to the new parent about what was suppose to happen within the next few days, signs of anything harmful happening, the usual information after any hospital trip.
As the two adults stepped into the hallway to go over everything and sign the release forms, a new figure came into the room, one that Frisk hadn't expected to see. In fact, they had only seen twice before this event.
"H-hey, Frisk," Alphys waved to the child, almost shy at the sight of the child. Frisk waved back with a grin spreading onto their face. "I'm glad that you're d-doing better now. We were, uh, worried, for a while there."
Frisk nodded vigorously and raised their eyebrows to indicate that they were too.
"W-well, actually, I have a question for you." Alphys sat down in the rolly chair beside the bed and fidgeted with her hands. "We had, uh, wanted to do something with you once, y'know, got out of the hos-uh, h-here," they stuttered, as if afraid that mentioning the hospital would put Frisk down. "Like, the group, ya know?" Alphys piped a bit up, but then looked down and shifted their eyes around nervously. "D-do you think you'd want to…?"
Frisk blinked at Alphys, trying to see if they were kidding, and, upon seeing that they weren't, they nodded quickly and laughed slightly with excitement. That perked the yellow lizard scientist up right away and they seemed to be sharing Frisk's excited mood. "R-really? That's great!" They pulled out their phone and began texting the group of monsters what Frisk's answer had been. Halfway through texting rapidly, Alphys blinked and looked up at Frisk. "What, uh, did you w-want to do, e-exactly?"
Frisk thought about did they want to do?
Obviously, they needed to move around. Only getting up to go to the bathroom, and one art therapy session, had really done a number on them and they were ready to kill just to move around. They were fairly sure that their legs were bruised from simply sitting around. So it had to be something with movement. That ruled out most places indoors, which was fine by Frisk as well. They hadn't stepped foot outside in four days now, it was time to feel that sun again. (The human decided it was best now to dwell on how the monsters had spent all those years without seeing the sun.)
A longing glance outside the window by Frisk's bed had revealed to them that the weather outside the flexiglass was seemingly fair. It wasn't too sunny, with big puffs of cotton dragging along with the bright blue sky. Frisk watched with envy as birds flew around and people stumbled through the streets. It was a pretty good day, even the birds were happily chattering with each other. The window hadn't really felt all that hot, so Frisk knew that it seemed like a good day outside all together. But Frisk wasn't a cloud reader, nor a meteorologist and couldn't tell what the weather itself was trying to tell them to do.
Frisk was alone on this one.
With a deep breath, Frisk glanced back to Alphys, who was patiently waiting on their answer, phone awaiting in her hands. In the hallway, the child could hear their new mother talking with their favorite nurse. Frisk wondered briefly what the goat lady would do if they were in their position and immediately came up with the would do something that would help them relax, but still get some movement in at the same time. Moving at relaxing?
Well, Frisk questioned themselves. What do I like to do more than anything else outside?
The answer came easily enough; they loved to get down and dirty and explore. (Which, unbeknownst to them, was how they had found the hole on the legendary mountain all that time ago.) But, at the same time, they knew without a doubt that Toriel would ever let them get dirty, especially with just leaving the hospital. It had to be something that didn't require a lot of danger, but required some exploration.
Frisk shifted their weight in their bed, getting more comfortable before answering in a cracked voice. "The zoo?"
Alphys beamed brightly at that answer, and went away to text the others. After Frisk saw the send button being hit, they knew that their answer was locked in place. And they didn't feel regret or anxious at all about the decision. The child turned back to the window and watched the clouds lazily fly by high up above and they knew that today was going to be a good one.
Once everything was signed, Sarah bid farewell, and Frisk was changed into their new clothes that Toriel had bought for them (they had superheroes on it!), the three of them were off to the zoo! Alphys had reported to the other two after texting for a solid ten minutes that everybody else was on their way and would meet them at the entrance gate. Frisk fidgeted in their seat, hardly believing what all was going on. They couldn't wait to get there, it was going to be so much fun to be able to explore all the areas in the zoo with their friends! And even better, it was to celebrate never having to go back to being alone! Frisk was ecstatic, more so than ever before, but they didn't let themselves fully believe it, just in case they were dreaming.
Dreams didn't always last, you see.
But as the car pulled up into the half full parking lot, Frisk began to feel more happiness rush into their system like nothing else before. They were jumping slightly on their feet and impatiently waited for the other two to get out of the car. Their eyes took in everything in their surroundings. Lots of trees stood guard around the cars, making sure that they provided plenty of shade for the cars to cool off in during the summer, and a lot of climbing material for the kids when schools had picnics. Birds were flying from tree to tree, screeching with content. The trees didn't have any leaves on them at the moment, seeing how it was winter, but Frisk had seen pictures when the school printed out permission slips for all the kids and did it look great! Secretly, Frisk wished that they could've seen it in the fall. The multi color leaves would've made great piles.
Rocks had also decorated the parking lot, some areas supporting massive boulders in place of walls, others having walls with rocks sprouting out of them. Beside the walls were snowed over mulch, some broken twigs sprinkled over the ground. It had given a very cozy feeling on the inside when they studied it, but not enough to vanquish the excitement that was for the trip inside.
Speaking of, their eyes sprung over to the entrance gate, where two skeletons and a fish warrior were standing guard, talking to each other. The smaller skeleton was leaning up against the wall with his hands in his pockets and had his eyes closed (could they close their eyes too?! Frisk marked that under "Weird Skeleton Qualities that I've Yet to Figure Out, a Novel by Frisk Dreemurr") with a sleepy expression on. The taller one was swinging his arms around the place and screeching about something that the child couldn't make out. The blue fish lady was screeching back about it, just as vocal and upfront about it as well.
As soon as Toriel had hit the lock key on their key ring that made the car go beep, Frisk was off. They were so ready for this that they had forgotten all about "taking it easy." It was the first time in years that Frisk had wanted to run at all, they wanted to be able to breathe like the normal kids, they wanted to do everything! Plus with their trusty inhaler, now stored in their coat pocket, they felt invincible. The child ignored Toriel's call to slow down and kept running. They ran like they did in their dream with the plants chasing after them.
Tap tap tap tap!
Frisk didn't let their feet hit the ground before picking them back up and swinging them in front. Their arms followed the movement and were pumped in front of the small chest with eager. Their vision was shaky, being unused to both running and being bounded around whenever their feet pushed back up. They weren't used to this type of exercise at all, they were used to more walking for hours on end at a comfortable pace.
Which was probably why Frisk didn't notice the curb that suddenly sprang up in front of them. Once second they were running towards the monsters, who were watching with amusement in their blurry faces, the next the world was swirled in colors. Frisk didn't have time to do much before the dull concrete color filled their eyes entirely. In fact, the only thing that Frisk had the time to do was close their eyes and hope that the fall didn't hurt too much.
But instead of feeling the harsh concrete hit their body, they felt the air swirl around them in a different movement and bony hands clutching their side tightly.
Frisk opened their eyes to see Papyrus using the momentum to swing them around his body. He seemed to be happier than the last time they saw them and his vocal squeal proved this. "OH, TINY HUMAN! I AM SO GLAD TO SEE YOU OUT OF THE MEDICAL UNIT!" He brought them close to his chest as he gave a tight squeeze that caused Frisk to giggle with joy. He always seemed to be able to put a smile on their face, no matter what. "BUT YOU MUST BE CAREFUL! YOU ARE LUCKY THAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS WAS ON THE ALERT, OTHERWISE YOU MIGHT'VE HAD TO GONE BACK TO THE UNIT AND WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO SEE THE ANIMALS."
"Yeah! What boneheaded stunt was that?" Undyne marched up to them and gave them a soft noogie.
"I dunno," Sans pipped up. "I think that it was pretty skullful running there. A plus job, kiddo."
"Wha-oh my god, seriously?" Undyne turned with a cast of fake anger on their face. "It wasn't a pun!"
"I thought it was pretty punny."
"SANS!"
Toriel and Alphys had jogged up by now and were quick to check over her surrogate child in Papyrus's arms. Seeing no harm had been done, thanks to the tall skeleton, Toriel briefly scolded them on their reckless behavior, especially with being out of the hospital for less than an hour, but stopped with the monsters promising to watch the child. Frisk also had to promise not to run for the rest of the day, despite them being so excited that their breathing was in much better condition than before, even after the short run.
As they were walking into the zoo(finally!), Papyrus had readjusted his hold on the child, briefly bouncing them up in his arms, to get a better hold on them. He smiled as brightly as he could at them, and in return Frisk made a goofy face, which he laughed loudly with his "NYEH HEH HEH" echoing around them, causing some people to look. Frisk didn't care with the looks, and were simply happy enough to be held, even if they were a bit too old for it. But, taking into consideration that they barely looked like they were eight, they figured it would be okay.
The admissions man that was working on shift hadn't any idea on what to do and it was very obvious. His eyes widened and he had to clear his throat several times when he was talking. Toriel and the others didn't give him much grief about it (mostly because those who wouldn't said something were suddenly pointed in the direction of something shiny), which helped him calm down a bit. And while he had to call his manager to make sure it was okay to even admit the monsters tickets, he didn't charge them any extra fees or some bullshit like that. He had been one of the good ones, and thanked them for coming today. Toriel and the other ones who were present thanked him and wished a good day before moving on. Still in Papyrus's arms, Frisk turned back around and waved at the man with a smile as they were entering the zoo.
He waved back.
Frisk hadn't imagined the zoo to be as big as it truly was. The map wasn't drawn to scale and it had definitely showed that. The entire zoo would take about three hours to walk around without stopping to take pictures or anything like that. So, maybe more like three to four hours long. Because it was the winter, the crowds weren't nearly as bad as they normally were. Add that and the fact it was a weekday without any scheduled field trips, it was the perfect day for the group of monsters (and one human) to go explore the zoo. Toriel had seemed a bit nervous and excited at the same time, wondering where they all should go. Sans had just suggested to follow the map, and the group seemed to think it was the best idea, so they took it.
The first exhibit was the giraffes, where you could even feed them graham crackers! A few giraffes were walking up to the elevated platforms, where you could be on eye level with the animals, to kids swinging the treats in the air at the tall beasts. The group watched in fascination at the animals, gasping at how big it was. Frisk realized that being in the underground for so long, they weren't used to seeing the animals that the Aboveground had to offer. This was going to be as eye-opening for them as it was for them.
Sans had bought a few crackers for the group to feed the animals with. With only the children for an example, the group of monsters hesitantly went up to an empty spot to beacon down a giraffe to come over and get a bite. None of the animals had really noticed and didn't come by at all. And the ones who usually noticed were busy. It had appeared that all the good ones were currently taken, leaving only a few who were either too short to reach up and get one, or didn't really care.
After a few minutes, a few of them began to get impatient."Oh, come ON," Undyne groaned and threw her cracked in frustration. It had spooked one that was thinking about approaching, quickly startling them into jumping and running away. The group turned to the fish lady, whose earfins were twitching, and gave her a cold look.
"Good job there, Undyne," Sans sighed. "We're definitely getting them to like us."
"LET'S TRY TO BE TALL LIKE THEM!" Papyrus grabbed Frisk and lifted them up and placed them on his shoulders "IF YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM, JOIN THEM, RIGHT? AND BESIDES, THEY MIGHT THINK THAT WE'RE ONE OF THEM!"
"That or they'll think you're trying to fight them," Undyne groaned, now frustrated with their lost cracker. She slumped against the railing and threw her head back in anger, growling slightly.
"Undyne, stop being so aggressive," Toriel scolded. "This is suppose to be relaxful for everybody!"
"L-like this," Alphys had observed the way that kids had done it and had the cracked on display in front of them, holding it out. Her hand was steady as it held the beautiful cracker over the railing, silently begging an animal to approach. Turned out that the scientist wasn't completely nuts as an animal saw the treat and began to come closer to the group.
Sans and Toriel, and now Undyne, who wasted her cracker, hung out in the back to let the other three get their turn first. The three were so excited that the giraffe was coming lifted their crackers higher up in the air to get to see the giraffe's long neck stretch to get the treat. As it stretched the get Papyrus and Frisk's, the monsters gasped in awe. They were incredibly amazed at the sheer size of the giraffes, it was adorable. The head itself was so big as it nibbled on the crackers, it had amazed the monsters enough, but seeing the purple tongue was too much.
"OH MY GOLLY, IT'S PURPLE! PURPLE!" Papyrus screeched and took a few excited gasps. "THAT IS SO COOL!"
Alphys watched with her scientist eyes sparkling with delight. "It is!"
As Papyrus and Alphys watched in awe of the purple tongue reaching out for the crackers, Frisk was able to reach over and pet it's long face. The fur was soft, but scratchy, making it an interesting texture to grasp at. The giraffe seemed to be interested in the creature petting it's head and bent it's head to view the human more closely. Frisk had beamed at this and let the giraffe lick their hand, the long tongue wrapping around Frisk's wrist.
"HUMAN," Papyrus gasped. "IT'S CHOSEN YOU! HOW EXCITING!"
The taller skeleton seemed to be happy with the giraffe making friends with Frisk up until it had began to lick their face and their fuzzy hair, causing them to laugh loudly with glee. At that point, he took a step back and gently pushed the giraffe's head back a bit. "NOW, I'M SORRY GIRAFFE, BUT YOU CANNOT HAVE MY TINY HUMAN. WE JUST GOT THEM BACK AND I WON'T LET YOU TAKE THEM TO RIDE ON YOUR SHOULDERS. THEY ARE MY FRIEND."
Frisk giggled as Papyrus turned away from the now disappointed giraffe. "Papyrus," they groaned with laughter. He picked them off his shoulders and shifted them around in his arms.
"NO, I AM SORRY, FRISK," he put them down on the ground and bent down to be on their level. He put his hands on their shoulders and smiled lovingly at them. "BUT I MUST KEEP MY PROMISE TO PROTECT YOU, JUST LIKE I SAID I WOULD."
Frisk nodded, feeling loved, and looked at the giraffe, now walking away with a slight stomp in it's step. By the time that they turned back, half the group was moving on, and Papyrus was starting to stand back up. Frisk quickly reached out and plucked his hand out of the air to hold onto as they walked. Papyrus seemed to be happy with that and silently held their hand, even if he had to bend heavily to the side to hold it.
The rest of the zoo was similarly like the giraffe experience. All the animals were curious of the monsters and had come up near the glass to see what exactly they were, causing Frisk a lot of excitement. Some of the animals (more so the predators) had saw them as a threatening opponent (more so Undyne) and had pounced at the glass, causing Frisk and Alphys (and a bit Papyrus) to scream as Undyne sneered at the animals with her sharp teeth. But, after Papyrus had plucked them up into the air out of instinct, Frisk laughed and laughed in glee. Papyrus had shared their excitement, but on more extreme levels and had even tried to pet some of the more dangerous animals after he realized they weren't in danger. Undyne had challenged him to whoever had gotten the most pets, or had managed to steal an animal, would win.
Win what, exactly, Frisk didn't know, but also didn't want to know. Toriel had forbidden Frisk to enter the contest, but that was okay by them. They liked having both their hands anyway.
Despite the animals taking a shining to the monsters and small human child, the humans didn't exactly share that same view. Acting like some of the predators, some humans threw insults at the monsters as they walked throughout the zoo. A lot of dirty glares had been given to them as they passed the group, sometimes yelling it across the way. At first it was just a few people, who Frisk didn't really bother to care, too excited to bring themselves to care at the minor looks they were getting. But as time went on, more and more parents were being rude about it, even going as far as to loudly tell their children they wouldn't attend a zoo that "allowed the animals to run a muck."
Frisk began to care.
The monsters were starting to as well, but were trying to hide it for Frisk's sake. They knew that the child, if they ever been to the zoo before, didn't have much experience with it and wanted to make their day a good one. At times, Frisk could hear Toriel reminding them to keep their cool, but it was beginning to get harder to do so. When the humans were especially rude, Frisk really wanted to let the people know that their judgment was hurtful and it wasn't cool in any way. By at that point, somebody, usually one of the skeletons, had tugged them along and told them something to cheer them up.
But at one point, enough was enough.
When they had seen the penguin exhibit, they decided that it was time for a break. The human and the monsters had found a good bench to sit on and munch on the food that they brought. Frisk had even given Undyne a cracker to replace the one that was destroyed earlier, and Undyne thanked them for it, biting it to shreds within seconds. The group was having a nice time, telling stories and talking about which animal they liked best so far. It was pretty nice, actually, and Frisk was being told a pretty good joke by Sans the time that it happened. A group of humans were walking by and saw the monsters sitting peacefully together. The children were almost ecstatic when they had saw them and pointed to them, gasping in awe, talking about how cool it was to see them. This caught the adults' attention and they were by the far the biggest jerks of the day, to describe them in a kid friendly way. They were supporters of LOHAM by the looks of it and they took things way too far.
They had cursed at them from afar, effectively cutting into the group's discussions like a knife.
Undyne retorted at them, standing up, not being one to take anything sitting down. The former queen had ordered her to sit down, but by then, the human adults began to get riled up and slurred at them, threatening them. Sans had gotten into the fight as well, hands itching to take the bracelet off to show the humans what a bad time could feel like.
Well, at that point, the humans had felt threatened and threw a rock at the group.
Luckily, it didn't hit, but the monsters were so upset by it that they had just gotten up and left in a scramble. Sans and Undyne were at the back of the group, seething with rage. Frisk was very pretty sure that if it weren't for Alphys and Papyrus begging them to come with, there would've been a fight on their hands.
When Frisk looked back at them, they could see both shaking with the effort not to go back and crack the humans' skulls together. Briefly, they wondered why Sans didn't use his magic to do something minor to them, but realized that the bracelets had still restricted them from doing so. The group, minus the human, were still being watched by both bystanders and the LOHAM supporters. No matter what the monsters did, they wouldn't ever be able to fight back, or be able to stand up for themselves. They had to take it otherwise it would be publicized that the monsters were fighting back, causing more chaos than needed. Things were going to get worse for them. If they did fight back, things would get escalated into a war. If they let this happen, then people would think it'd be okay and they would be abused the rest of their lives.
Well.
Frisk wasn't a monster.
They stopped walking and turned around. The continuous footsteps indicated that those in front, lead by Toriel, didn't really see that Frisk turned, but Undyne and Sans certainly did. Once the two saw the child, they briefly stopped, scowling, expecting them to try and talk to them to cheer them up. The two wanted to let the child know that they refused to be cheered up, but were surprised to see them march past without a glance in their direction. The two looked at each other briefly before stopping completely to watch as Frisk continued to march past them, fierce determination on their face.
"Hey, uh, Frisk?" Undyne spoke up. "What're you-"
Frisk ignored her friend and kept marching.
In fact, they kept marching until they were directly in front of the group of people that threw the rock, among other things, at their friends. Their hands were bundled into fists at their side, breathing deeply to calm their rage. It was outrageous, simply because they didn't look alike! Just because they weren't the same!
It enraged the child. Screw keeping it cool, these fuckers needed to be yelled at.
"Hey," Frisk spoke up. They could be loud if they wanted to be. Not very loud, but loud enough to tell off an adult. When the group didn't turn Frisk took a deep breath, frustrated before beginning again. "Hey!" When the people had turned to face the child, they felt a prick of fear pick up. They had to swallow it before continuing on.
They pointed a (somewhat shaking) finger over at the group of monsters, who were now stopped where Frisk left them to view what their human friend was doing. Sans was hovering slightly closer than before, in case something happened, but other than that….the spotlight was on Frisk entirely.
"That wasn't cool," they said simply. "You shouldn't have done that. You didn't need to be like that."
"Look, kid," an adult male stepped forward. "I don't care. They ain't got no right being here, and no kid should be here tellin' me what I should or shouldn't have done." He waved a meaty hand at them to shoo them away.
Frisk stood their ground. "I do when it involves my friends," Frisk crossed their arms."You could've hurt my friends."
"And," The man questioned throwing his arms up in the air. "That would be bad because….?"
Frisk shifted their weight, eyes glancing to the left. "You can't see what's wrong with hurting others?"
"I see what's wrong with hurtin' humans! Not," he pointed his finger over to the group and increased his volume. "them damned monsters!"
Frisk didn't know what to say. They normally had an idea in their head of what they wanted to say, but reserved themselves more. They weren't normally allowed to talk in an argument, no matter what, so they weren't used to fighting for much. But, they had to. If it was going to effect their friends then they had to. It was just pressurizing and scary to have to think of a response within a second or two.
"What's the difference?" Frisk asked, suddenly having an idea, perking up. With the man shouting, more people were starting to pay attention. And with more attention, the more effective this could be.
"The difference is that I ain't hurtin' nobody! Now you need to shut up and go back to your parents before you get yourself in trouble, ya hear?!"
Frisk fidgeted before continuing on, trying not to flinch at his glare. "How do you know?"
"What?!" He took another few steps forward, hands shaking at his side. Sans had taken a few steps forward, almost directly behind their friend before stopping, glaring at the man with a hint of blue around the edge of his eyesocket. Frisk felt their heart pick up pace and asked how they knew they weren't humans. "Because they ain't people!" He stomped and took a step closer, eyeing Sans. "They ain't ever gonna be like people!"
"But they feel," Frisk felt a bit braver. "They think, they feel, they cry."
"And?!"
"That's what humans do, right?" Frisk began to feel the corner of their mouth shift into a smile, but they forced it down. Out of the corner of their eye, they could see more people listening in, animals forgotten entirely.
"But they ain't human! They don't look alike! They don't look like us!" He was full on yelling, spit flying out of his mouth. "So they ain't human! They don't feel or-"
"I'm sure that's what they said about other races before." The man stopped. "Like with blacks, or with the native americans." They shrugged. "Just saying that what you're saying has been said before, mister." They turned and began walking, Sans placing a protective arm around them. "But, hey, they don't look like us, so how would I know? I only live with them."
The man stood, silenced, mouth agap. One of the kids pulled on his shirt and asked him what that meant. Another kid told them that it meant the kid's dad was racist towards monsters and the kid gasped, turning to the father.
"It's not true, daddy! Tell them it's not true!"
The silence that responded the question made Frisk smile.
