Interlude - cross-species communication via baked goods
Disclaimer: Do not eat.
Other Disclaimers: See chapter 1
==oo00**00oo==
Long after the campers had been sent off to bed, the lights in the mess kitchens sprung to life again, as Muffet came in with the evening staff to begin the next day's baking, Muffet and her crew actually preferred this to working with the children during the daytime, partially because having full unrestricted access to the kitchen gave the night staff more freedom to cook creatively. Also, it was easier to avoid overlong explanations to many of the other students as to why they had to avoid their steps while in the mess hall, as the overwhelming majority of the night staff were, in fact, spiders. In fact, their participation in the culinary preparation for the campers basically required Muffet to accept this particular prerequisite, which she of course understood. Monsters often were somewhat uncomfortable around spiders, and given the resident spider loving human's reactions, she felt it would be best to slowly reveal the fact that some species of spiders were, in fact, sentient, rather than simply come out and greet everyone. Such is the price that must be paid for eventual freedom, and fair prices were something Muffet understood very well.
Walking through the kitchens and performing the heavier startup tasks for her little workers, Muffet found herself musing on recent events more than usual this particular night. It had been nearly a year since the barrier had been broken, and about six months since the last of her clans had finally relocated past the barrier permanantly. She had to hand it to Frisk, the little human's ingenuity was surprising even to Muffet - their efficient handling of the barrier, and the simple fact that they supported spiders, helped push the donations to her cause of spider relocation well past its goal. It was a shame the child refused payment for their services, Muffet thought to herself with a smile and a shake of her head. The child would learn, sooner or later, that accepting payment for services rendered was only appropriate, even with a kind heart it is always in everyone's best interests to have every resource available. Far be it from Muffet, however, to leave debts unpaid, accepted or not, that was a staple of Muffet's business acumen neither she nor the Muffets before her would compromise. She knew that even her time was nearing it's end, with a lifespan currently passing a century and a half, she had lasted nearly twice as long as the last Muffet, before the calling came to spawn the next generation of spider leadership.
As her hands worked deftly to perform some of the final preparation tasks of the evening, her mind drifted to her own youth. She was born, as were all Muffets, in the last year of her mother's life, after months of careful selection of proper breeding stock and a few generational adjustments. Much to her mother's satisfaction, she was born significantly stronger, healthier, and more intelligent than the previous generation, a near perfect example of the selection process perfected over a dozen earlier generations of Muffets. Her mother, a bit more of a mystic than she, would often tell her that it meant that great things would be happening to the world around her during her life - nature often knew and prepared for these things well in advance. Muffet would scoff at this, of course, as a daughter should when her mother spoke of things a child couldn't quite understand, and her mother would chuckle and simply continue their lessons, as a mother should when their daughter was being the very child they should be.
She remembered that first year in such little moments, separated by a blur of lessons and study. The first year of her life was spent almost entirely in lessons, as the history of the clans, and the history of the Muffets, was effectively crammed into her brain. Biologically, Muffets began to rapidly age and die after the birth of their true progeny, so it was necessary for mother Muffets to teach their daughters quickly. Studies on politics, business, science, history, and many other subjects, all drilled and studied. "Spiders have several advantages over other species" her mother told her once "having such short lifespans, we have learned the importance of maximizing potential, and being generally overlooked when we remain hidden, we often are able to observe far more than many other species. Our collection of knowledge and learning is in many ways more vast than any other collection in the Underground. You should use this knowledge, my child, to the fullest of your potential, as the Muffets before you have, as I have. Each Muffet has given something back to the clans, both by the talents they choose to develop, and by the knowledge they choose to gather. You must learn, my daughter, what your contribution will be. That is the greatest skill I can teach you, and if you are able to perform such a task, dearie, I will consider this particular venture a great success."
As Muffet flipped a final set of switches, turning on the lights in the stockroom for her staff, she smiled to herself. Her mother would have been proud of her, she thought. Through fate and fortune, assisted by her not insignificant acumen, she was now in the position to have the greatest potential of any Muffet since before the barrier went up in the first place. Waving her kitchen staff into action for the night, Muffet took a few moments to walk over to the stove and gather up her teapot before moving from the kitchens to her quarters, settling down for a moment, taking a deep breath, savoring the aroma of her new tea (she had taken to collecting new and interesting teas from the surface, which fortunately the local human population seems to appreciate as much as she, this one was something called darjeeling) and taking a sip with a satisfied smile. Then she set her tea down, and beckoned over the groups of spiders that had been patiently waiting to the side. Seeing their queen's command, several spiders came skittering forward, some carrying handwritten letters, others carrying items collected from the surface. Knowing their queen's preferences, the spiders arranged themselves in order of least important to most important, and brought their documents forward.
The first few were relatively trivial items, Muffet noticed, reports on the status of their kitchen (both personal and camp-wide) and any needed items. One of her hands signed a couple of stock orders to be processed, changing a quantity here, a quality there. This particular piece of her work had become so ingrained it became almost habit for her, but her keen eye would occasionally point out a flaw or two One of which she spotted near the end of the documents.
"Oh dear, it seems we may be getting overcharged on some of our food prices. Do me a favor, and take a team to do some looking into our vegetable prices, would you? We wouldn't want our beloved campers to have to eat unhealthy because our vegetables were too expensive now, would we?" She giggled to herself as the spider gathered a small group and scuttled off. A few more minutes of handling day to day matters, and she had dismissed most of the group to their next tasks. Turning finally to the remaining spiders, she nodded, and one came forward with a small batch of documents. Muffet smiled, with the secrecy still required to keep the underground coalition safe, it had been rather taxing to begin to establish a business foothold on the surface. However, with persistence, and a lot of... positive reinforcement in the right places, the various anonymous trusts and shell companies were nearly in place for actual business interests to grow, interests that she knew would be critical to maintaining legitimacy once people knew about their existence. She felt satisfied that only a handful of beings other than her spiders knew about what she was doing, not even Frisk, though she guessed the clever little human at least suspected, based on snippets of the treaty clauses she had been informed about through her sources.
That child was really clever enough to be a spider, Muffet thought to herself with a grin, as she reached for the next document. She had just begun reading an informational document on the strength of the human military when a group of spiders rushed in through the side entrance, waving their notice in a flurry of legs. Muffet frowned at the group. "Now now, dearies. I know you may be excited, but no matter how important your news is, protocol must be followed." The spiders immediately stopped waving about, but didn't seem to lose their nervous energy. Muffet, smiled at her children; "good enough, I suppose. Now, what has you this interested?" she asked as she reached out to grasp the missive. The spiders all stilled as she read. For the first few lines, her expression was curious, then a raised eyebrow. As she continued to read, the second eyebrow joined the first. In a moment she put the paper down, her shock and surprise settled shortly into her trademark smile. She turned to the group of spiders that had brought the missive, and, in a rare show of appreciation, bent down to kiss the top of the lead spider's head. "Thank you for this, my child. You are truly a strong anchor for all of my children, and you should know so." The tiny spider shivered, and nearly collapsed, but instead shook itself off and simply radiated with joy at the thought of pleasing it's mother so. Muffet patted it gently, then stood with purpose, sending an alarm to all team leads to come to a meeting. In moments, all appropriate parties had been gathered.
Standing before her children, the spiders were in awe of the regal queen they saw before them. Many generations of Muffets ago, the king and queen of the monsters had come to an agreement with the spiders, one in which though Muffets were given general autonomy, they still respected the laws of the land set out by the Monsters. It was easy to see, in this moment, why such leniency was given to the spiders, for Muffet held herself as surely and as strongly as any royal could possibly be.
"My children, today I have been sent word from some of our farthest scouting teams. These teams have seen many things, from the growth and beauty of the human spirit, to the power and vastness of the human mind's potential. They have seen Humans create wonders, and destroy them. And all using the technology built through human ingenuity, with steel and electricity and strength, they have given us an example to follow, and we are making plans to do so as we speak. But today, children... today I have received a different word. It seems, that we have found a place, far in the northern reaches of this island, that is home to humans... with magic." This sent a silent but agitated stirring through the group. Muffet quickly silenced her children with soothing words. "Fear not, my children. Many of the stories of the Magus passed down and told by the monsters are of course not based in any truth. Even my own mother passed down few tales of their deeds, both great and terrible. However, regardless of what we know or do not know, this is a particular opportunity we cannot let pass us by, so we will be commissioning a fact finding and diplomatic expedition immediately. One that I shall be accompanying personally."
This sent another wave of shock through her children. Though they certainly trusted her judgement, they did often feel protective of their mother-queen. It was rather adorable, if Muffet was being honest. "None of that, dearies. This particular meeting will require particulars that need my personal attention. But we shall leave prepared, of course." She quickly began waving teams away to being preparations. "You two, take your teams and prepare the automation of the kitchens, we will leave them staffed, but I will be unable to supervise directly. You, take your team and gather the supplies we will need for our particular journey... and you, go wake my little pet." She turned around towards her desk to start writing a letter to Frisk, who would need to be kept informed of this particular venture, her smile turning into a rather dangerous looking smirk.
"I think it's time we renew some old family ties."
==oo00**00oo==
Wow, five months.
Oops. Sorry about that. I would provide excuses, but most of them would ring hollow in my ears. Suffice it to say between work becoming busy, and a rather large charity initiative I'm now far more in charge of than I had anticipated, I have been finding myself with much less time to write. However with the winter season gone and work ramping down from it's busy season, I hope to begin updating this far more regularly. I have a good chunk of the next actual chapter written, so the hope is I can post again in a week or two, and get back on track.
Thanks to all of you for sticking with this, It's actually been a joy to write, and even over the months when I wasn't writing, the story wasn't far from my mind. Hope you all continue to enjoy!