Toby Fox owns Undertale and all associated characters.
Edit: caught a couple minor errors and rectified them. Sorry about that.
"You paint a pretty picture, Ambassador," the fat, well-dressed man in front of Chara mopped his brow with a handkerchief before frowning at the robot. "But some of us must deal with reality, which is far more dire than you make it out to be."
Chara raised an eyebrow at him, shifting her stance and folding her arms in front of her chest, still unused to the sensation of her metal limbs against the fabric of the black suit she wore. She had to stop herself from adjusting the deep red tie around her neck, hanging over a red vest and white dress shirt underneath.
Normally, she would never wear anything like this. However, with her role as ambassador, she was required to be more formal than usual at these Human/Monster relations meetings. She tuned out the noise and crowds around her, focussing on her victim.
"A dire reality, is it?" Chara asked, somehow managing to keep her amusement out of her synthetic tones at the man's bluster. "And what exactly would that be?"
"You say that Monsters have been nothing but a benefit to society, but nothing could be further from the truth. Our reports say that nearly every community that Monsters have joined has deteriorated at an alarming rate."
The man grinned at her, small, beady eyes bright as they watched. Chara allowed a small smile to caress her features. She was going to enjoy breaking him.
"I have to wonder where you receive this information, Senator." The mechanical girl practically purred. "By my reports, wherever Monsters have settled, they have been nothing but model citizens."
"With all due respect, I believe your reports to be faulty." The Senator replied smugly, producing a few folded up papers from his suit pocket. "According to these documents, wherever the Monsters go, chaos spreads with them. Look," He handed the papers to Chara, who took them, unfolding them and scanning them as the man continued. "In every attempt at integration, the crime rate in the district has skyrocketed. Surely you recognise the pattern."
"You do have a point, Senator," Chara admitted, glancing up from the papers. "Though I'm afraid that it is not the one you are trying to make."
"What do you mean?"
Chara reached into her own suit pocket, producing another folded up piece of paper and absently waving it at him.
"Let's ignore the fact that you just handed me forged documents, for now, and focus on the accuracies you did make," she let the document that had been given to her fall to the floor and continued before the fat man had time to collect himself. "You're right, there are certain districts that have suffered disturbances since Monsters arrived, and indeed, because Monsters arrived. However, what you left out is the fact that all of these disturbances were perpetrated by Humans. Every. Single. One."
"But the provocations-"
"There is no provocation. These are nothing more than hate crimes, enacted by bigots who hate Monsters for no other reason than they exist. Even if there was provocation, the crimes range from theft, to arson to assault. If Monsters were committing these crimes against your people, there would be no end to the calls for justice, no matter what your people had done to us to deserve it. And do you know what the funny part is?"
She took a step towards the senator, watching him in amusement as the slightest hint of fear entered his eyes.
"There have been instances where Humans attacked Monsters, and the Monsters did not fight back. You fear us, because we are stronger than you now. And you know this. When you were stronger than us, you slaughtered most of the Monsters, and sealed the rest underground. You fear that now the tables have turned, we would do the same to you.
"Monsters aren't like that. In the three years since we've come to the surface, despite the bigotry, despite the fear, we want nothing more than to be treated as equals. As people.
"We don't want to fight you, Senator. We don't want another war. We don't want to be forced to defend ourselves," She leaned down and grabbed at the documents she had let fall, and handed them back to the senator, who took them with trembling fingers. "Don't make us fight. Because we will win."
Chara smiled brightly, and gave the man an affectionate pat on the shoulder, causing him to flinch way.
"You look like you could use a drink," she told him, her voice sympathetic. "Why don't you go over to the buffet, and relax a bit? Oh, and I would suggest firing whoever forged those documents, it's an obvious fake. You don't want to end up showing these to someone who's less kindhearted than I am."
Chara watched as the defeated Senator shuffled away. She'd been less subtle than usual, and Toriel would definitely give her a talking-to if she found out about it. While her mother was one of the kindest, gentlest souls she knew, her ability to subtly manipulate the political atmosphere around her at these meetings made it painfully obvious that she had been the power behind the throne. Chara had learned a lot from watching her work.
"Yo! Chara!"
At the sound of her name, the robot turned to see Kid trotting towards her, nimbly evading the gathered men and women in the cavernous room. The boy was wearing a dark blue vest with a white dress shirt underneath, modified to fit his armless torso. A small blue bow tie stretched around his neck, and he wore black dress pants. As always now, his visor lit up the left side of his face in a red glow.
"Hey, Kid." Chara smiled, turning her attention to the boy, her gaze flicking up and down as she admired his attire. She'd never really been one to focus on looks but… damn if he didn't look good in that outfit.
"This place is so cool!" Kid enthused, his eyes shining brightly as his eyes shifted constantly from Chara to the massive room they stood in. "And there's so many people! Everyone's so fancy here!"
"Fancy's one word for it," Chara muttered. "No one's given you any hassle, right?"
"Not really, everyone seems really nice!"
"Just be careful, not everyone here has our best interests at heart." And by that, I mean most of them, she added internally.
Kid nodded in response.
"Don't worry, I will."
"Good to hear… but I'm glad it sounds like you're having fun. Maybe I'll have to drag you along to more of these… you look good in a suit."
Kid blushed, and looked away shyly for a moment. He was smiling when he looked back though.
"Uh.. thanks, Chara. You look good too, your hair looks nice like that."
Chara reached up to absently run her fingers through her high ponytail; another thing done specially for this occasion.
"Really? I feel kind of silly with it…"
Kid shook his head vigorously.
"No! It looks good! I like it!"
The robot gave him a warm smile.
"Thanks, Kid," her gaze settled on his visor for a moment. "How's your visor doing? Is it working properly again?"
"I think so… it's not glitching out anymore after Alphys took a look at it. Good thing too… It got so bad, I could barely see outa that eye!"
"Good thing we got it fixed, then," Chara teased. "You already have enough trouble keeping from tripping without being half blind on top of it!"
"Hey!"
The mechanical girl laughed at Kid's protest, her synthetic tones carrying her voice across the room. When she refocused on Kid, he had a soft smile on his face and a distant look in his eyes.
"Alright, lizard-boy, what are you thinking about?"
Kid shook himself, snapping out of whatever little trance he had been in.
"Uh, sorry, it's just… it was nice to hear you laugh again."
"What do you mean? It's not like it's been a long time."
"Yeah but…" the Monster shrugged. "I dunno, the last few weeks you seemed kinda… sad? Like, you smiled and laughed, but it didn't really feel real, you know? Like you were only doing it for us instead of for you."
Chara blinked in surprise. Sans, sure, she hadn't been too surprised that he was more aware of her struggle, despite her attempts to hide it. But Kid… she hadn't expected him to be this perceptive.
Just as he started looking uncomfortable, Chara found her voice.
"You noticed that, huh?"
"Yeah…" the boy looked to her in concern. "You're alright, right?"
"I'm better now," she admitted. "I was… having trouble sleeping, but I talked with Sans, and he was actually pretty helpful. Sorry if I worried you…"
"You shoulda gone to him in the first place! If there's anyone who knows how to get to sleep, it's Sans!"
"I'll keep that in mind if it ever happens again," Chara promised.
"Good, I like it better when you're smiling."
As Chara vainly attempted to keep her cheeks from colouring, Kid looked towards the buffet that was always set up at these events. He looked back to Chara.
"Yo, I'm gonna go grab a drink, you want one?"
"You think you can bring two cups back here at once?"
"Hah! Just watch me!" Before she could say anything, Kid dashed off, quickly disappearing into the massed crowd. She sighed and folded her arms, smiling after him. This, she had to see.
"He seems like a nice young man," a deep voice rumbled beside her. Chara looked up to see a tall, well-dressed man with a full wineglass in his hand standing close to her, also watching where Kid had disappeared.
"He is," Chara replied, keeping her voice carefully neutral. She'd dealt with this man before. His name was William, and he was one of the more dangerous politicians. In public, he was sympathetic to Monsters, though not actually helpful to their cause. In private, however…
"I've not seen a Monster with no arms before," William continued, taking a sip of his drink. "Was he born like that, or did something happen to him?"
"He's always been that way," Chara replied, deciding to go along with whatever game he was playing for now. She wanted to know why he was suddenly interested in her boyfriend.
"I see. I do hope you're keeping an eye on him," the man cast Chara a glance before turning his attention away. "It's a dangerous world out there, even for someone who does have arms. It would be a shame if something happened to him."
Chara kept her stance casual, though internally she was seething. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to call upon her magic and kill this smug bastard for daring to threaten Kid.
Instead, she gave a bright little smile and turned slightly so she was partly facing him.
"You're right, William. It is a dangerous world out there. But, I find that one's actions can make it far more dangerous. For example," her counterattack was fast and furious, though she kept her tone even. "If one were to, say, cheat on his wife with the secretary of G.R.E.E.N at every one of these meetings, or perhaps, skim off the top of his corporations funding for "personal projects", that could make his life far more dangerous. Especially if the people he was cheating were to find out about such things."
William was silent for a moment, and Chara internally crowed at her victory. She knew that behind his calm mask, he must be fuming right now. Finally, he said quietly;
"Are you threatening me, Ambassador?"
"Are you threatening me, Human?" Chara shot back.
There was another moment of tense silence, before William burst out laughing. Chara followed suit. While the mechanical girl's laugh was genuine, William's was forced and fake, signalling to the girl that she had won this round.
"A pleasure to speak with you as always, Ambassador, but I must be going." The man inclined his head to Chara, who returned the gesture, a smile still hovering about her lips.
As he walked away, she looked toward the buffet table, and her eyes widened. Kid wandered towards her, two glasses, balanced precariously on his head, each against a spike. His gaze was fixed upwards, and his gait shifted from side to side in an effort to keep the punch atop his head instead of all over the floor. People around him gave a wide berth, no-one wanted to end up covered in drink should the armless Monster fail in his task.
"Kid! You actually did it!" There was surprise and a hint of pride in her synthetic tones. She strode towards the boy as he came to a standstill, and plucked the cups from atop his head. "I'm impressed, your balance must really be a lot better than it used to be if you can manage that!"
Kid just gave her a wide grin.
"Never underestimate the mighty Kid!" he crowed, striking a pose that had definitely been inspired by Mettaton.
Chara laughed and leaned forward, kissing him softly on the cheek.
"Don't get too full of yourself champ," she passed him one drink, which he grabbed with his teeth. "Drink up, there's still about an hour to go before we go home. I need you to stay sharp, okay?"