🌹SoL🌹 :: 536 - 540 (Patreon)

“And they were brutally stomped out by some monster with sharp claws, a huge body and big teeth.  And then they’d have their SOUL taken out as a sort of trophy for the monster.  Can’t believe-”

“Never heard that bit about their SOULS being taken out.  You must have had a better storyteller as a kid than I did,” Frisk joked, but suddenly felt a shiver of unpleasantness run down her spine.  

She was glad that little tidbit detail never made it in the stories she heard as a child.  Now that would have been terrorizing.  Hell, the image to her right now made her a little uncomfortable.  Which made her feel guilty as all hell too.  

Jim shrugged.  “Yeah every storyteller has to put their own spin on urban legends I suppose, but I can tell you all that is complete nonsense.  Ya see, I was the guy who was desperate for money three years ago and through the good old grapevine, I heard that a monster was looking for a human that could get him human booze for his bar.”

Frisk felt her mouth drop.

“And you went to another city?!  You went solely based on a rumor?  You know how unreliable information like that is, right?”

And almost instantly she felt bad about her fearful and ignorant reaction.  Obviously monsters couldn’t be all that bad (or be like that grinning bastard Sans) if Jim were still alive, but going to a new city, monster or not, without a connection was DANGEROUS!  At least in your own city you knew who ran things and you knew how to act.  You enter another don’s city and even step out of line by insulting the wrong person or doing something that might be viewed as remotely offensive to a high ranking criminal you were DEAD!  

That’s why the countryside was where Frisk needed to be at.  With all those pretty flowers with people who didn’t want or need guns and violence was a rare thing.  

Jim’s face became a little bitter and sad.  Frisk mentally punched herself, blushing for her stupidly and decided to stare at her empty plate as opposed to him.  

“Three years ago my wife left me and my then two year old daughter because I was laid off from my construction job.  No one in this Godsaken city was hiring.  I was about to be evicted from my apartment.  I needed to support my daughter.  I was desperate and so I entered Fell when I heard the rumor.”

Oh, you’re a single daddy huh? Frisk thought and wondered if his daughter had his bright blue eyes.  She waited for him to continue finally looking back at him.  

His bitter face was replaced with a more amused smile.  

“You know what I learned when I entered Fell City?  All those stories were told by big fat liars.  Not only wasn’t I attacked but I came to the realization that monsters were more...pleased, amused and interested by me being a human than angered.  It was only after I finished answering ton of embarrassing questions about my human body and human culture that two crazy-looking bunny monsters directed me to Grillby Sulfuric.”

Frisk blinked in shock and when Jim’s word sank in she began to smile.  

“No way.  That really happened to you?” Frisk asked, starting to chuckle.