Entry #2: Evening Under the Mountain
"Hello ladies and gentlemen, monsters and humans. This is Tessero, and thank you for tuning into Evening Under the Mountain. Today we have a special guest, Muffet, the owner of one of the most prominent bakeries within the USS." Na Na Na by My Chemical Romance played softly in the background as I spoke to Muffet about her business.
"I heard that you used to have abhorrently high prices for your baked goods, what made you lower them? Was it a lack of customers willing to buy from you?"
"No. When the barrier to the surface opened, I was one of the only monsters who stayed behind. Mind you, I go up every once in a while, to have fun, but I knew I would make more money for my friends if I stayed here in the underground because no one else was selling baked goods, coffee and tea when you College humans started showing up."
"So you took advantage of a monopoly?"
"Yes, and what a beautiful monopoly it was." Said Muffet, reminiscing. "But it worked for the humans down here. Didn't you love the food and drink?" Muffet asked innocently.
"Sure thing" I said insincerely. I would rather have bought microwavable instant coffee at the grocery store without paying ten gold for a small cup. The sad thing is, once the USS started supplying tea, coffee and baked goods at markets all over the underground, Muffet and her spiders bought out all of these goods in the markets as quickly as they could, reselling them at Muffets' ultra-high prices. I had to admit that spider was pretty brilliant because it was cheaper to buy the supermarket goods and resell them than make the goods from scratch underground.
"What ended your 'beautiful monopoly'?" I asked innocently.
"Those pesky brothers. Oryn and Crake bought all of our goods and resold them at cheaper prices. Everyone stopped coming to me and the other spiders."
Many of the students underground continued to complain about having to buy overpriced coffee and muffins when they stayed underground. The Council knew that the coffee alone was universally vital to academic life, so we set up a meeting to find a way to resolve the issue. The brothers of course came up with the brilliant yet simple idea- play Muffet at her own game. Aria had to sink nearly all of the surplus gold in the USS treasury to buy out all of Muffet's overpriced product. When the money was collected, Oryn, Crake, and over a hundred student volunteers went to the spider vendors to buy out the goods as quick as they could. Oryn and Crake resold them at a business they created on their own: Ginger Bros Café. Muffet didn't know that the whole Council was in on the act, and I think that it was better she focused her frustration on the brothers. They learned how to handle that kind of thing well anyways.
"That was surprising, wasn't it? I guess that's when you were forced to lower your prices."
"Yeah," Muffet sighed "I couldn't beat one gold for a regular Coffee."
"Well. I'm glad you kept your business down here anyways, and thank you for being on Evening Under the Mountain." When Muffet crawled out of the studio, some of her friends crawled over my face and body while following her. I didn't flinch, I had faced much worse even after two months of travelling around the world searching for magic.
"Next up, I talk about this semester's upcoming Magic Festival, where students show off their skills in an event open and free to the public…"
…Meanwhile, on a rural highway between two towns…
Frisk listened attentively to the radio inside of the car while Papyrus drove them home from tutoring. Papyrus had always admired Frisk's ability to solve puzzles and provide situational insight, so it perplexed him why Frisk was doing so bad in math and writing that they needed tutoring. But after each tutoring session, Evening Under the Mountain started broadcasting while they were heading home.
Frisk and Papyrus first heard about the show from Alphys when she began working at the College. She got tired of her friends asking constantly about her work (especially her fiancé, Undyne), so she referred to the program where I talked about everything that happened in the College. Everyone was particularly curious about the Underground Student Society, they didn't think anybody would want to go back down there. "I guess it's a nice place for all the students to get away from those annoying administrators and professors, especially Professor Alphys." Mettaton had said jokingly.
…Back in the radio studio…
I invited Arcos onto the radio show with me to talk about the upcoming Festival that was held on the campus grounds. The College administration let him lead and organize a large portion of the event because he was in his last semester, he was the top student in his class, and he had taken part in eleven other Festivals before this one.
"Ohh! Are we going to see the mirror-magic showcase performed by Flynn and Willow?" I was impressed last semester by the mage duo that performed advanced, choreographed illusion magic, making corporeal replications of themselves through spectral mirrors.
"Boy, you can bet on your fine white head of hair that they will perform in this Festival, but see, you've only been at this College for one semester so far, they perform something different each time."
"And do you know what that will be?"
"I sure do, but I ain't tellin' no one til' you see it at the Festival"
"Well I'm sure everyone is excited for their performance, but I have one more question, what will you perform for the upcoming Festival? I know agro-magic is your specialty, so are you going to grow another field of corn in half a minute?"
"I've been growing a good idea for my performance, but you know I ain't tellin' you on the radio."
"Yeah I know" I said grudgingly. Essentially every question I asked him about the Festival was shot down with a refusal to answer until after the Festival. I was glad to end the interview early, and I was eager to begin the call-in period. "Now Arcos has given me permission to do something special for the festival. I would like one of my listeners to have the opportunity to perform as a guest. Arcos has opened a spot for one performer outside of the college to show his or her magic, and I am opening up calls for the rest of the hour to talk to listeners who are interested and ask what they can perform."
…Back on the highway…
Frisk pulled out their cell phone immediately.
Surprised, Papyrus suddenly looked at Frisk. "FRISK, ARE YOU CALLING IN? YOU DON'T KNOW ANY MAGIC, BUT TELL THE RADIO HUMAN THAT YOU CAN SHOWCASE YOUR DETERMINATION!"
While Frisk was dialing in, another person had already called the underground station.
"Hello caller, what is your name, and what do you plan on showing at the Festival?" Tessero asked on the radio. Apparently, this caller was in the middle of happy hour. His response was loud and slurred.
"My name is Kase, and you can give me your biggest swimming pool; I will turn all of the water into beer for you damn students to swim and drink in." The comment was a hit with Arcos, who started cracking up while slapping his knee. This was clearly not something to be taken seriously. Even if Kase could do what he said, a basic transmutation spell applied to a swimming pool wasn't show worthy for the Festival and the College was strict about public intoxication, but the idea sounded brilliantly fun.
"Al'right Kase, as much as I love your thinkin', we're gonna have to ask another caller" Arcos stated. We picked up another call and waited for it to come through.
"Hello caller, state your name and what you want to show at the festival."
"Hello, my name is Frisk."
…Back inside the studio…
That was all the child said before going silent again. Arcos and I looked at each other with our eyes widened. Was that the Frisk who broke the Barrier? They were loved and hated in the towns surrounding Mt. Ebott, and they were famous throughout the College for freeing both Monsters and their magic. Frisk was a silent and shy preteen who fell through the mountain, opened the underground Barrier, and somehow became the delegated ambassador between monsters and humans. News of them and their new family had spread all throughout the media.
"Are you the Frisk who broke the Barrier?"
"Yes" the voice said through the call line.
"Okay" I drew out the word. "Do you know any magic?" I figured not, knowing their age.
"No, but my mom does."
"And who would that be?"
"Toriel"
Arcos and I practically lost our minds with excitement. The Dreemurr family was an ancient monster clan that predated the great war between humans and monsters. They had established dominance among the other monster families by the time they were locked underground, and according to the texts that were brought up when the barrier opened, they had maintained dominance throughout the centuries. The family was known for their incredible aptitude with pyromancy and they were the most benevolent of the monster clans; these factors are what kept them in power. The family had played a huge role in both human and monster history.
Arcos and I didn't care if we were yelling on public radio at this point.
"TORIEL FREAKING DREEMURR!"
"ACTUAL MONSTER ROYALTY PERFORMING AT OUR FESTIVAL!"
"WE'RE GONNA HAVE SOME QUALITY GOAT MAGIC I TELL YOU WHAT!"
…Meanwhile, inside a small household in Ebott Town…
Meanwhile, inside a small household, Sans and Toriel listened on a portable radio inside of their living room. The static yelling that emitted from the radio filled the silent room. Sans watched as Toriel glared at the radio.
"I guess Frisk goated you into this magic festival, huh?"
She remained silent while she pulled out her cell phone. She wasn't going to have any of this, not in the current situation.
"I'm sorry to rain on their parade, but I will have to explain."
…Back at the Radio Studio
Another call suddenly came in the midst of our celebration. We didn't expect another caller since we made it clear by our reaction who the performer would be. "Uh, hello. Uh, state your name and what you would like to perform." I said, out of breath.
"This is Toriel" a feminine voice said.
Arcos and I nearly blew up again over the radio. "Okay, let's shut up so she can talk!" Arcos exclaimed. We regained our composure quickly.
"What would you like to say, Queen Toriel Dreemurr."
"You don't have to address me with that, just call me Toriel. Anyways, I am afraid that Frisk didn't talk to me before making the call. I'm quite busy, and under the current circumstances, I will not be able to participate."
I felt my heart drop. Arcos and I both understood what she meant by what she said. But before I could say farewell, Arcos took up the call. "Hello sweetheart, this is Arcos, the leader of the Council down here and one of the main organizers of the festival. How was your day been so far?"
"Uh, fine, thank you."
"Good. Now, I am aware of the circumstances, and I am sure that you are worried to perform at the campus because you think that humans will perceive your magical abilities as a threat."
After a long pause, "Well, that was part of it."
"Alright then, well let me tell you somethin' sweetheart. My family currently holds seats in the Central Department of Agriculture, and on top of that I am a sixth-year Praetor, which means I do a lot of things with Administration at the College and I see a lot of important people. I know almost everything about how humans feel about monsters and what we think about monsters even when it comes to our government."
"Okay. I'm sure our ambassador Frisk has that handled."
"Yes, but based on my knowledge, I want to reassure you that your performance would not be seen as a threat by anybody. In fact, it would be quite the opposite. By performing at our festival, folks would see it as an open invitation to friendship between humans and monsters, especially within the realm of magic."
"Would mind taking the time to reconsider?" I asked Toriel.
I heard a sigh over the radio. "I will consider this."
I took the opportunity to ask Toriel one more thing before we ended Evening Under the Mountain. "Are you curious about what happened to the Underground?"
"Not particularly. I know that after humans finished researching it they wanted to open a museum in memory of us who were trapped there. But then I heard about how the top students from the College of Gifted Mages took over and exploited the Underground's magic to power their student society and attract more members. But why do you ask?"
The fact that she had said that with such kindness made her jab hurt all the worse. "Toriel, I want to invite you on a tour of the Underground while you consider performing at the Festival. We do maintain a museum as part of an agreement with the academic staff who let us run our society down here. We would have run the museum regardless of that agreement. I think you should see it and the rest of the underground too. We built an efficient transportation system, so a full tour would only take a few hours."
…Back inside the small house…
Sans and Toriel looked at each other inside of their living room.
"I'm curious" Sans stated. "But it's your judgement call."
Toriel rolled her eyes "I wouldn't mind a visit." She said through the phone.
After Toriel hung up the phone, I sent her a text giving her all of the information about the tour. She sat down on her cushioned armchair and cracked open a history book on the Nuclear Wars. She was catching up on centuries worth of human history that monsters were separated from. She recalled how the dates mentioned in the book correlated with earthquakes felt in the Underground in the 195X's. Toriel read and waited for Frisk and Papyrus to get home. She had a vegetable pie baking in the oven and after dinner she had to start grading her student's essay's.
Sans walked into the kitchen to check on the pie. Usually he helped Toriel grade papers after dinner was finished; it was easy enough reading off of essay rubrics. Sans found that he was rather comfortable with a domestic lifestyle, and like many other monsters who went to the surface, he found his personal niche in a new career. Grillby and Sans opened up a restaurant when they reached the surface. The restaurant was called Sansby's, and the hotdogs and hamburgers were so good that it quickly became a chain with locations in multiple Monster Sectors and in the Underground. It was vastly popular in the Underground Student Society, and was a favorite hang-out spot alongside Ginger Bros. Café. Of course, no monster establishment was allowed on a Human Sector, and this deserves an explanation.
Entry #3: The Human-Monster Segregation Act of 201X
Just a preview of the third chapter with the title of the next entry. I would be happy to receive comments about any confusion or ways that I can improve my writing. Thank You!