How to Heal Hearts of Steel

Chapter 4

First Pick

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I waited patiently in the line. thankfully, I didn't have to wait for too long. When my time came, I approached the door. There was a staff bot waiting at the entrance.

"Present your pass or voucher please!" It politely asked me

I held up my pass for it to scan. It did so quickly and moved out of the way.

"Mega Deluxe pass detected, please enjoy your time with your favorite mascot. You have 10 minutes. Your time starts now"

The automatic door slid upwards opening to a green-themed room. It revealed an animatronic alligator.

And from my guess, he looked surprised. He was in the middle of tweaking something on his bass guitar with a small tool. His star glasses were off and sitting on a green table nearby him.

"You?" He said, sounding confused and surprised.

"Me" I step into the room, the door shutting behind me.

He stares me down silently for a few moments, before nodding towards a chair nearby. I take his invitation and sit down. I watch him as he focuses on tuning his instrument. The door slides shut, and silence envelopes the room. I decide to break it after a minute.

"That was a hell of a performance you all did out there. I was impressed"

He just grunts and keeps focusing on his instrument. I look around his room. It seemed it was jungle-themed... Do you think they might have gone for a bayou theme?... Did Monty even get a choice?

"Cool room... Did you choose the design?"

He sighs and sets down his instrument. "Why are you here? There were three other choices that you could have made. And they're much more popular than me"

I sighed and leaned forward. This guy really did have some issues. I think that's what drew me to him in the first place. There was no reason why he shouldn't be popular... And... In a way, he reminded me of someone very important to me that I hadn't seen in a while.

"Truth is Monty, I don't see a reason why I should pick to visit the others without seeing you first"

"Why? I'm not that interesting"

"Excuse me? I think you are. I mean look at you, you look badass. And you can't tell me that you don't shred that bass like you were born with it"

Oh god. Maybe that was a bad choice of words. For all I knew, he probably actually was born like that, especially within this company.

I saw his eyes narrow. He looked upset. I definitely shouldn't have said that, but I wasn't going to back out on this guy.

"Leave... Your pass should allow you to visit the other band members. I'm done with dealing with people today" He dismissed me and went back to fiddling with his guitar.

"No... I still got about six minutes. And I came here to talk to you"

"Leave" He demanded

"No" I stubbornly replied

"Leave!" He stood up and growled, slamming the tool he was using onto the table.

"Why" I stood up with him. My eyes met his in full challenge.

"I'm not asking anymore" He growled threateningly

I raised my right hand, and he visibly flinched. But I simply laid it on his shoulder.