Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27997069-20160317174518/@comment-27907368-20160409012638

"Metafictional" means that Chara is "of, relating to, or characterized by" the metafiction. It's too strong of a classification for an NPC that has history in the fiction itself.

Words that end in -al are usually not up for debate when discussing literature. (Think of abdominal, historical, topigraphical)

"Metafictive" is what I chose because it means that there is a connection or tendency towards the metafiction. Words ending in -ive imply that there is a connection, but that it does not necesarilly define the root. (ex. talkative, competitive, reclusive)

Here, just compare these.

It's a nuance on my part. I'm glad you recognized it!
 * Fictive - (adj.) creating or created by imagination
 * Fictional - (adj.) relating to fiction; invented for the purpose of fiction

You're blatantly ignoring that Chara does not recognize that they are a part of a game or that their reality isn't real. They aren't aware that we're sitting in the real world playing on a computer or that we read their words on the screen. Sure, they say "you". Scary. So does every NPC in the game (while their sprites look at us through flavor text boxes). We don't rove around calling that "meta" because it is understood that this is how overhead RPGs convey dialogue and emotion to us.

So long as the NPC doesn't mention the actual parameters of the game or the framework of the game, they aren't being meta.

They tell us that our power awakened them from death. This isn't meant to be some big commentary on RPGs or Undertale - it's Chara stating their reality. Most of the genocide ending is Chara defining their reality.

Summary points:
 * Chara cannot break the fourth wall when they were never between the other three.
 * Chara defines their reality and then adheres to it. There is no mention of the stylistic choices of Undertale itself. A reality outside of Undertale is not implied.