"Wow! Amazing! I-I wish I could d-draw like you!" Alphys exclaimed, staring in awe at the sight.
"If you stick around long enough, you may even get to see the finished product as it's being made!" beamed Kirsty.
"As much as I'd love Alphys to stay, she better not be too long; me and Kirsty are going-" Frisk said.
Kirsty intervened at once, informing her that "it's not 'me and Kirsty'. It's Kirsty and I."
"... Yeah. Right. Kirsty and I are going for dinner at the MTT Resort."
"Yeah, I'm gettin' kinda bored, sitting around, watching Mettaton. Let's go home, Alphys. I'm gettin' hungry!" Undyne moaned, pulling her lizard lover out of the house.
"Oh. I guess I don't really have a choice. B-bye, Kirsty! I hope I s-see you again soon!" Alphys yelled.
"Bye, Alphys! Bye, Undyne!" shouted Kirsty, waving goodbye as the door closed with a bang.
"Alright, Ms Kirsty Poppy, we better get ready, 'cause we're not just going for dinner at the Mettaton Resort; we're going with Papyrus and Sans." said Frisk, pulling Kirsty onto her feet.
"Oh, cool. I like Papyrus. He's really nice." smiled the girl, letting down her hair and brushing it thoroughly.
"I'm glad you like him. You'll probably like Sans, too. He's real funny." the almost teen grinned.
"Really? Cool! I like funny people." Kirsty commented.
"Well, in that case, let's not waste time, talking!"
Soon enough, the humans were in a more formal state, ready for dinner with skeletons. They smelled like lovely lavender, owned two sets each of pearly white gnashers and and had low, tied-back, brown hair.
Frisk took Kirsty through the snow, past several houses, to a nearby river.
Hovering on the water was a small boat, just big enough for five people, and on it sat a hooded figure, who spoke, "Tralala. Where to today, humans?"
"Hotlands, please." Frisk said, sitting on the boat with Kirsty.
"Tralala. Hotlands it is then." the figure replied. The boat took off at a satisfactory speed, right away.
"Hotlands?" asked Kirsty.
"Yeah. There's the Ruins (where humans fall), Snowdin (where we live), Waterfall (where Undyne lives), Hotlands (where the MTT Resort is) and Tori's Castle (where the queen lives, of course). Hotlands is, obviously, very hot - so you might wanna take off that massive coat - and there lava - try not to fall in." Frisk explained, taking off Kirsty's winter coat.
"Alright. Sounds fun."
Soft, tepid waves slowed to a stop as the boat ride shortly ended. Frisk and Kirsty climbed out and thanked the figure kindly.
The abrupt change in atmosphere caught Kirsty off guard. She had gone from being so cold that her breath came out in great clouds of smoke like a dragon, shivering as she took each step and watching as she turned into Kirsty The Red-nosed Human to being so hot that she had the sudden urge to strip off completely - which she would have, had there not've been people strolling along the sweltering streets. Kirsty now started to sweat and she took off her GEEK jacket, tying it around her waist.
"Haha!" laughed Frisk. "I told you it was hot!"
"I don't think I like this heat." the teen chuckled. "I hope it's not this hot in the resort."
"Oh, nah. They're kind enough to have air conditioning." Frisk clarified, giggling happily as her friend breathed a sigh of relief.
The two of them walked along the rocky path, chatting about people and places, dodging the bursts and bubbles of lava that the pools shot at them, making their way towards the hotel - a large, blue building, which read 'MTT' above the glass door. Unprecedented changes in the air became frequent to Kirsty; she made a mental not to always expect the unexpected. The cool breeze from Snowdin had followed her to the resort like a dog to it's caring owner and this fact lifted their spirits (and their coats onto the trustworthy coat hanger near the entrance). Wet from the overflowing Mettaton fountain, the floor they danced over was a perfect, brilliant gold. The only thing terrible about the place was the staff; an orange cat cashier could be seen stealing money from the till, not even trying to be subtle or secretive about it.
Frisk took Kirsty to him, asking if he'd seen two skeletons pass through.
He replied with, "Yeah. A tall one and a short one. You with them, little buddy?"
"Yeah, we are. Thanks, BP." said Frisk, dragging Kirsty away.
"Any time, little buddy." he nodded.
"'BP'?" asked the teen.
"It stands for Burger Pants. That's what everybody calls 'im. Don't ask why." Frisk chortled.
"Well, what's his real name?"
"Er... Dunno."
The restaurant had a stage at one wall and a multitude of round tables in a range of sizes. Neat tablecloths were thrown onto them, cutlery set out tidily, chairs tucked in, a single candle on every surface - 'This is certainly a place worth admiring.' thought Kirsty.
"There they are!" Frisk pointed out. What with there being only a few people in the room and the monsters in question were having trouble with not standing out, there was really no need to point them out, 'but, whatever floats your boat, I guess.' shrugged Kirsty. "Hey, Papyrus! Hey, Sans!" There, right in front of the stage, sitting next to each other at a table for four, was Papyrus and his brother, Sans.
Papyrus was still in his 'battle body' - a red scarf, red gloves and red boots - a kind of formal outfit. His brother, on the other hand, was quite the opposite - everything-wise, apart from the fact that they're both skeletons, of course. Sans was short and wore a blue hoodie, a white sweater, a pair of black and white, striped shorts and sneakers. He leaned back in his chair, half-asleep, while Papyrus sat politely upright.
When they heard the humans coming, Papyrus waved excitedly. Sans lifted an eyelid, then the other. His eyes - if he had any - widened.
"Papyrus," he whispered. "you said she was pretty, but I had no idea she was this...beautiful."
"She is, isn't she? Quite a pretty picture." Papyrus nodded in agreement.
The humans took their seats at the table, Kirsty shuffling the cutlery about until she saw it fit her liking. She looked Sans up and down, deciding that he was just another person to add to the Crowd Of Gawping People.
"Hello, humans!" grinned Papyrus. "I was wondering when you were going to come."
"Sorry if we were late." Frisk apologised.
"Actually, I think it was just that they were a bit early." explained Kirsty.
"Ah." said Frisk. "Well, in that case, not sorry."
"Oh... Um... I didn't... Okay." Kirsty stammered.
"Hehe. It's okay. It was a joke, yeah?" said Frisk.
"Uh... Yeah." replied Kirsty.
"So, anyway, Kirsty, this is Sans. Sans, this is Kirsty. She's the newest human, but you probably already knew that. Go ahead, Kirsty, shake his hand." urged Frisk, grinning at the skeleton. Sans offered the girl his hand, but she was quick enough to uncover the prank, pointing out a hidden whoopsie cushion.
"Heh. You're pretty observant, huh?" he laughed, stuffing the failed joke in his pocket and properly shaking her hand, forgetting to let go.
"Thanks... Can I have my hand back now?" asked Kirsty, shyly.
His grip was firm, yet kind. She almost enjoyed it.
"What...? Er... Oh. Yeah, sure." Sans let go, faintly blushing.
"Sans!" Papyrus hissed. "Don't embarrass yourself in front of the human! At least try to make a good first impression!" Sans shrugged, staring at his hand.
"Yeah, Sans is pretty good at the jokes. Do you know any good ones?" asked Frisk.
"Um... Knock knock." said Kirsty.
"Oh, God! Please, don't!" cried Papyrus.
"Who's there?" Sans asked, ignoring Papyrus' begging.
"To." Kirsty replied.
"To who?"
"No, it's 'to whom', actually."
Frisk and Sans chuckled; Papyrus rolled his eyes, scowling. "That was a good one!" Frisk cheered. "I'm not as good at telling jokes as Sans is. Why don't you tell one?"
"Uh... Erm... I..." stuttered Sans, at a loss for words.
However, before he could say anything, his younger brother called to a waiter and ordered the staff to surprise them. He said, crossing his arms, that he "just had to put an end to the disgusting topic", as it was making him more and more uncomfortable.
Papyrus and Frisk then began talking non-stop about food and the cooking lessons with Undyne. Apparently, Undyne and Frisk - but mostly Undyne - had set her whole house ablaze when they were cooking spaghetti together (turns out, the final product wasn't actually half bad). She then had to live with Papyrus and Sans until her house was put back together again. They had a lot of fun.
At this point, Kirsty chose to switch off again. She allowed herself to daydream as she waited for an MTT Meal. The imaginative cogs in her brain whirred into motion, running as quick as a nice cube in Hell.
The images of future sleepovers with her future besties, Alphys and Frisk, roamed the vast complexity of her mind. They attacked each other with playful pillow fights, toyed with subjects not to be messed about with, roasted marshmallows over the fire in the lounge, played truth or dare, and talked about cute boys (or girls) they took an interest in, all whilst having a whale of a time - and whales do make some noise, so, of course, they did too. Bang! Slam! Boom! Clap! No one got rest on the nights they spent together (not even them).
Was there any better way to have a sleepover with your possible BFFs? Ah, yes! Movies! Now this was a practically perfect party. And, if it wasn't, Kirsty was filled with perseverance to make sure it was.
As her mind wandered, so did her eyes - they, themselves, seemed to have a mind of their own. They drifted about the room, travelling from the ceiling to the floor, from the cutlery to the door, and from one person to the other. Soon, Kirsty found herself staring blankly at Sans, who sat opposite her, staring back. It felt as if they were having a staring contest, but neither really cared for winning. They stayed like this for almost a minute, before Kirsty managed to shake herself out of the magic spell, without stopping to wonder if their moment meant anything.
Frisk found Kirsty sitting on the cream sofa, looking into the fire in her pyjamas.
The evening had gone smoothly. The food was delicious and she hadn't spoken much, but how could she when others kept babbling about somewhat unrelated subjects? Sans held her hand on the way to Snowdin, but she no one ever thought anything of it. Papyrus and Frisk held hands, so why couldn't they?
Her hair was freely falling down her shoulders, her fringe persistent to veil her sleepy, emerald green eyes. She hugged her knees, mesmerised by the dancing flames, letting out a tired yawn as Frisk sat beside her.
"So, what do you think?" asked the twelve year old. "Of the Underground, I mean."
"Good." Kirsty replied. "I'll explore it tomorrow. It seems interesting, all these different places. I bet there'll be different people there... They're all really different...really confident...not afraid to be who they are... That's my favourite part..."