Chapter Text
After being in the dark alley for some time, it took a moment for your eyes to adjust to the bright white light of the room your rescuer had led you into. You heard the metal door clank shut behind you, and instantly the astringent smell of dish soap, layered lightly over a rich layer of food attacked your senses. Even as the room came into focus, you could already tell you were in a kitchen. Your hand gripped his tightly. There were so many people! And not only that - they were all human!
Age or gender or race didn’t seem to be an issue. Everyone had a place and a job to do. Adults in their middle age were washing dishes, while people around your age were prepping food and fixing plates. If you blocked out the outside world, you could even regain some sense of normalcy. No monsters, no magic. Just people like you.
But that wasn’t the case. Looking closer, it was evident that these humans weren’t normal paid employees. Their clothes hung off them or fit slightly too tightly, ripped at the elbows and knees. All of them had a small metal earring that dangled and glistened in the harsh kitchen lighting. You weren’t close enough to look, but it was pretty obvious that this was another form of identification. For servants. The man at your side coughed and gently but insistently worked his hand out of yours.
“Well, this is it. It’s not much, but for a lot of us it’s the best we’re gonna get in this situation. As you can see, the boss has a lot of workers. Can’t remember our faces even he’s got so many.” He chuckled, flashing brilliant white teeth. “That’s made this place excellent for escapees or anyone wanting to hide.”
Turning to face you, you finally got a good look at your new friend. He towered at least half a foot over you, and made you feel kind of puny with how broad chested he was built. His hair sat in tight short curls over his scalp, just long enough to hang over his forehead. His skin was a rich brown, and almost seemed to match his eyes, which sparkled as if he was continuosly hiding an inside joke. They seemed tired, but that seemed to be a fate no one could escape these days.
With nothing to hold onto, and in such an unfamiliar place, your hands jammed themselves self consciously into your armpits. There was a long moment of silence as he took you in as well. A flush rose to your face under his intense gaze.
“Look, little ghost. I don’t know your story, and I’m not gonna ask it either. Everyone in here has some screwed up shit in their past; hard not to with all these demons walkin the surface and treatin us as they do. But all o’ us are kind of like a family. We gotta stick together any way we can. That’s why I stuck up for ya against those cats.”
His eyes had turned stony as he met your gaze for a long moment.
“But that kind of trust, I’m puttin all of us in a lot of danger. That collar isn’t a normal sort of trinket, and as roughed up as you are, you look well fed and cared for. What I’m sayin is - you better not put any of us in danger ya hear? We’re really stickin our necks out for ya here.”
By now, a few more of the workers had noticed a new face in their midst and come over to check you out. You curled in under all the attention, but tried your best to smile and seem friendly. Curious hands sought out your collar and it took a lot of will not to flinch away. They didn’t seem to want to hurt or take it; they just seemed curious. They also asked a lot of questions; they obviously didn’t share the same respect of privacy that your savior did. Many you didn’t, or couldn’t answer. Some; yes or no questions, you at least tried to.
“Are you staying with us for a while?” ~Yes~
“Are you a runaway?” ~Yes~
“Were you attacked?” (Gently touching and tending to your cuts and scrapes) ~Yes~
“Do you hate monsters?” (A long pause) ~....No~
The pressing crowd around you abated at that, their many eyes burning with curiosity. You saw mouths open, presumably with a brand new barrage of questions.
A click, and like cockroaches, the workers scattered to all corners of the kitchen; picking up pots and spoons and resuming their tasks. A heavy hand gripped your shoulder, now familiar. A voice whispered hastily in your ear before he too ran off to attend to work.
“The name’s Garret. If you need anything, just come find me- or ask any of the workers here. You’re in good hands with us .”
For some reason, his last sentence held a bit of foreboding that you didn’t much like.
The being that entered the kitchen seemed humanoid, at first, but you instantly recognized the buzz of magic of a monster- even before you could see them. Two legs, slightly too long to be natural, entered the room. They bent at strange angles to support elongated feet, tipped with claws. This caused their torso to hunch slightly; they carried themselves like a sort of werewolf, fingertips scraping the ground every so often. That was where any similarity to humanity stopped. Their shoulders sloped up to where a neck should reasonably be; but instead ended in a flat plane. Floating above that point, and casting an eerie light, was a hexagonal diamond. Each of its faces flashed a different color, and it spun lazily in the still and fragrant air.
Every time you’d thought you’d seen the most of what monster kind had to offer…
Their voice emanated from everywhere and nowhere at once.
“I heard quite the commotion in here, slaves. You’d better be working. This place should be spotless before our early rush gets here.”
A young man, carrying a bag of sugar was unlucky enough to wander too close to the hulking being, and with a swipe of a large hand, was sent toppling.
“Be careful slave!” The monster snapped, all faces flashing an affronted red for a moment.
Then, and you had no idea just how - they spotted you. Their head spun quickly, and stopped. Somehow you knew the side facing you was aware. With a low questioning hum, they ambled over. You tried to quell the shiver that traveled through your body as they got close, large and glowing and a little too alien for your human rationality to comprehend. This must be the boss. Suddenly you were regretting your choice to use this place as a safe haven. How safe could you be - with a creature like this?
“Hmmmm~” It’s voice hovered like electricity in the air, in a form you recognized as pure magical energy. “And who might you be? I do not recognize you…”
You opened your mouth to try and speak, but nothing would come out. You were caught. Doomed.
“That’s a girl from the batch you got last week boss. Don’t you remember?” One of the dishwashers - a human you didn’t even recognize from earlier - spoke up. There’s no way that would work.
The kitchen was cast in a confused purple glow as all of their faces blinked and spun lazily, thinking, thinking.
“Right… Right, I recall now. One of our new waitresses. You look a sight. Our kitchen staff can look like human garbage, but the lucky ones picked to serve must represent me. Shower immediately and be ready for the morning shift. “
Flat planes returned to a rainbow of colors, and the boss ambled out of the back room, shutting the door behind him with a bang. You didn’t think that was intentional - their hand was easily three times the size of the doorknob.
You let out a long breath you weren’t even aware you were holding. While you were safe for now, you were starting to feel much like a lobster slowly boiling to death in heating water. Falsely comfortable, and unaware of the danger looming just out of sight. But it was better than being outside in the fire, and if it kept you alive until Sans came for you (and you were sure he would) then so be it.
Rubber banding your own claws, you pried yourself from your corner and went to find the shower.
You had a job to to.