Asriel: Another chapter! This one is pretty casual. Nothing serious.
Frisk: *Smile* Let's not forget our newest main character! Red!
Red: Hi. I, Um...I don't understand how this works.
Asriel: You'll get a hang of it over time. Everyone has.
Red: If you say so.
Frisk: We're introducing Red to someone we know pretty well by now!
Chara: *Wide Eyes* Wait a minute...you don't-
Muffet: *Enters via web* Here I am, Dearies~
Chara: Oh no.
Frisk: Oh yes.
Asriel: Oh Golly.
Red: Oh...I'm hungry.
Chapter Start!
"Wooooooaaaaaaahhh!" Red beamed, her eyes focused on the sight before her, her cowl pushed back and her pink hair much more noticeable. They were currently outside of the monster neighborhood, showing Red around the city. Asriel was simply holding a Cinnamon Bunny right in front of her with his unbandaged paw. A hot and fresh one, steaming slightly. It wasn't burning his paw because of his high resistance to normal heat. Red was eying at it with immense interest and hunger. She licked her muzzle and couldn't help but drool and wag her tail eagerly. "What is this? I don't think I remember this snack! Is this some type of test of self-control?! Am I about to fail?!" She was trying to sound urgent, but the alluing delicious scent of the Cinnamon Bunny refused to allow her that choice. It already succeeded in causing a small growl from her belly.
Asriel smiled awkwardly at the look she was giving the snack in his paw, clearly finding her hungry interest in the snack to be amusing on a certain level. Chara and Frisk definitely found it funny, trying to rein in their laughter. Asriel rubbed his neck slightly with his own sheepish laugh. "U-Um...no, Red. This isn't a test or anything like that. Just a common snack that's gone around with monsters, and is starting to become pretty well known with the humans. Have to remember that magic food can replenish your health and magic when you're in a bind. And when you're not in a bind...well...it makes a pretty good snack either way. I don't suppose you've had a Cinnamon Bunny before, since you're so interested in it?"
"Nnnooo! No way! I didn't have anything like this!"
"Well, we have plenty to go around because we've bought quite a bunch of them already. Like I said, they're pretty common." Asriel smiled. "I'm a pretty big fan of cinnamon, so of course this is one of my favorite snacks. Do you want one?" He asked politely while holding out the Cinnamon Bunny to her.
Red eagerly takes the Cinnamon Bunny he offered to her. Once again giving it a good look-over and a couple whiffs, finding the cinnamon goodness to be utmost pleasing. She slowly takes a bite out of the Cinnamon Bunny, trying to get a taste for it first. Her eyes immediately began beaming with glee as the treat graced her canine tongue with it's magical cinnamon flavor. It's no wonder Asriel took such a liking to it. Being cinnamon already made it a favorite of his, but being magical cinnamon made it many times better. Frisk and Chara have learned a long time ago that magical food is vastly superior to human food on many margins. It can actually restore ones health and cure pretty much anything. The taste certainly wasn't something to look over, either. Monster food is not only better than human food, but it has much more health benefits. Even the foods that normally wouldn't be considered very beneficial despite being made of magic(Sans and his ketchup) still turn out to be much better than the human's version.
It's been discussed between Asgore, Toriel, and other human officials during their long wait in the Underground. They occasionally gathered some monster food and offered some to the humans to see what they think. Turns out that the humans really enjoyed the monster's food and their magical properties, and food was constantly given out to them so they could get used to it. Some snacks they were more hesitsnt to try than others, but then they were glad that they did.
Red had finished her Cinnamon Bunny and licks the last of the cinnamon off of her muzzle. "You did say that there were more, right? Can I have more?"
"Well, yeah. Like Asriel already mentioned, Cinnamon Bunnies are very easy to come by. So it gets bonus points for being both supremely delicious, and for being pretty cheap." Chara shrugged. "Asriel's got like, a bunch of them in his room as a secret stash. We could simply go back there."
"Chara!" Asriel whined. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about my secret stash!"
"It's not like anyone's gonna try and look for it. Everyone's perfectly fine with you enjoying your sweets, so long as yoi brush your teeth aftwards and clean up after yourself."
"Like you only barely do when you were eating your chocolate?"
"Hey now, I can actually get away with that. Oldest sibling benefits, remember?"
Frisk pouted at the ridiculous notion. "Your 'oldest sibling benefits' are dumb."
"You're dumb!"
Red thought about the offer after briefly laughing at their sibling banter, then simply shakes her head. "No, that's fine. I don't want to burden you more than I probably already have."
Asriel turned back to her. "What? Burden? Of course you're not a burden! A new friend is never a burden!"
"Absolutely not! There's nothing about you that could possibly be a burden to us, Red. You're simply a new friend trying to get used to a place that's entirely new to you. That's all." Frisk reassured her. Red smiles softly from this
"I'm gonna have to remember that you're ust as much of a sweetheart as your brother."
"They're equals in that regard. Goodie Goodies." Chara answered for her.
Frisk pouted at him. "You think you can keep embarassing us with that? Well, we can play that game too." He then turned to Red and lightly pulled on her cowl. "Come on, Red. There's someone else we'd like you to meet."
Chara immediately felt like this would be going to go south for him very quickly. His smirk disappeared just as quickly. "Um...where are we going...?"
"Oh. I think you know."
Chara narrowed his eyes at Frisk, though the latter was clearly unaffected. "You wouldn't dare."
(One Warp Later)
"Oh man, you would dare." Chara groaned as Frisk and Asriel were cheerfully leading the way, with himself and Red following them. "This is a pretty petty way to embarass me."
"We don't know what you mean, Chara. We simply want to introduce Red to one our other friends. Somene you know quite well. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?" Frisk says calmly, his smile never wavering.
"Frisk, I know what you're trying to do, and you seriously suck for it." Chara deadpanned.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm simply being a good friend, introducing a friend to more friends~"
"That's a dirty lie and you know it, Frisk. Just like Asriel, Dad, and Papyrus, you suck at lying!" Asriel was about to say something to add on to this slight altercation. Chara looked him in the eye, silently telling him that the times when Flowey was the vessel for his consciousness didn't count because they're two separate beings now. Asriel pouts and holds his tongue.
"Some person we're gonna meet has Mr. 'Too Cool' on edge? Now I'm very interested." Red folded her arms, her head cocked to the side. "Wonder who we're seeing that can make you so nervous?"
Chara rolled his eyes. "This person can be...a bit difficult for me to keep up with. This one has a really annoying habit of messing with me at times I can't do anything about it. That time comes a lot more than I'd like."
"There she is!" Frisk pointed. "She's just outside her bakery!"
"And she's been busy..." Asriel said in slight awe.
Spiders were scampering all over the parlor that also counted as their new home of sorts, as Muffet was standing outside making sure everything was going accordingly. Most of products have been safely and tightly packed into their proper container windows as well as cleaning the windows for window display, until they were ready for distribution. Magical food doesn't spoil as easily as human food...he doubted that magic food spoiled at all. Those spiders were absolute hard workers, constantly doing their best to please their boss.
Red blinked. "Woah. That's...that's a lot of spiders. Is that your friend over there?"
Frisk nodded quickly. "Indeed she is. Muffet!"
The spider girl turned towards the small group. All five of her eyes blinked as her six hands clasped with delight. "Aha! My favorite customers, as well as my dear friends!" Her eyes sparkled with even more delight the second she sees Chara among them. "Chara Dearie!~" Red raised an eyebrow and turned to Chara, who was trying to hide his face in his hooded poncho, though it was in vain. Muffet puffed her cheeks as she folded her middle pair of arms and placed her lower pair of hands on her hips. "Don't pretend that you didn't hear me!" She said with a higher tone of authority yet still remaining playful.
Chara flinched a little at her tone and immediately uncovered his face. "S-Sorry, Muffet. I was just a bit shy about introducing you to a new friend of ours. She just came around, ya know."
Her expression immediately goes from stern then back to delight. "Ah! A new friend? I love new friends! Not only are they pleasant company, but they could also be new friendly customers!" She turned towards Red with her head rilted, her eyes blinking simultaneously. "Who might you be, dearie?"
Red relaxed a little bit and managed a smile. "Well, my name is Red. Muffet, was it?"
"That's my name, Dearie. Don't wear it out~"
"Weeelll...I'm not gonna lie. I've never met any cute spiders in my life. And I've honestly gotta say you're without a doubt cutest spider I've ever met."
Muffet smiled and blushed slightly at the compliment. "Why thank you, Red! Not many see us spiders as the cute and cuddly kind. But I assure you that spiders like us are much kinder than what most humans view us as in general, so my goal is to prove that not all spiders are big and scary like they believe. Dropping my grudge will make this much easier to achieve. And like you said, we're totally cute as well~" She slowly turns to Chara and clasped her top pair of hands. "Isn't that right, Chara?~"
He rubbed his neck, nervously looking away. "I...w-well...yeah? I mean..."
Muffet giggled as she strutted up to Chara and wrapped him in a four-armed hug, as her top pair of hands playfully messed with his hair. "Ahuhuhuhu~Don't be so shy, Chara. I already know you think I'm cute and cuddly!" She released her middle pair of arms from the hug and used the hands to playfully pinch his rosy cheeks. "I also know that you're still a smidge too high on pride to say it much in front of other people. Don't fret, I already forgive you!~"
"Muffet, please stop it..." Chara groaned, the pink of his cheeks brightening up a bit.
Red seemed to be amused at the display. Frisk was greatly amused by the display, giggles escaping him without restraint. Asriel was simply smiling. "Chara is sometimes highly embarassed about it, but he and Muffet are very close."
"Hence why she's the only one outside of our family who can embarass him as much as we can." Frisk snickered.
Muffet giggles more as she plants a warm smooch on Chara's cheek. "Muah!~ Yes indeed, we're quite close!" She smiles as she hugged him tight, squishing her cheek against his. "He talks with me, he gives me confidence and assistance on my bakery business, he likes to have tea time with me, and we do have our fun with messing with people together. Though I consider it much more fun to mess with him. And he's always sooo gentle with me and my spiders! Him acting tough doesn't bother me at all. I already know he can be just as much sweetheart as his brothers! Ahuhu~"
"Oh, is that so? Looks like you have a soft center that only certain people can persuade you to bring out, huh?" Red smirked. Chara groaned in agitation and slight embarassment. Not even an entire two minutes and Muffet has already shot down his attempts to look cool in front of Red because she was new. And he feels like she did it on purpose, without revealing anything that relates to the notion.
Muffet finally pulls away from Chara and clasped her middle pair of arms. "So, how may I help you all?~"
Red smiled. "Well...since I'm pretty new around these parts, the boys were offering to help me get used to things, as well as meet a couple of their friends. Frisk said that meeting you would be the first on that apparently loooooong list of friends."
"It's true, it's a pretty long list." Asriel nodded.
"Well then, Dearie. How about we get you comfortable with me by giving you a sample of my goods." A spider swiftly drops down onto her top hands and handed her a Spider Donut and Spider Cider in each hand. She politely hands them to Red. "Spider Cider and Spider Donut, Dearie?"
Red blinked. "They're made of...actual spiders?"
"Mm-hm!"
Frisk shrugged. "They're not that bad, to be honest. A bit webby and sticky, and yet somehow due to made of magic, they're pretry good!"
"I'm not really a fan of them." Asriel shook his head, then smiled. "I have nothing against them, but I prefer to have Snail Pie, instead. Frisk is all for slightly sticky and webby Spider Donuts, as well as the warm Spider Cider. I'm in favor of the Snail Pie for it's crunchiness and it's gooey slime." Asriel pawed his cheeks while licking his muzzle. "Slimey, yet satisfying~"
"You both freak me out sometimes, with your crazy-ass taste buds." Chara deadpanned. "Frisk, you don't even have an excuse. You're just...weird. You're weird, Frisk!"
"Chara. I said a lot of times that I was kind, friendly, outgoing, compassionate, very merciful, bit of a ditz and a bit of a flirt...but I've never said that I was normal." Frisk admitted with a casual shrug. "You should know this about me by now. Besides, normal's overrated. Look at what's happened, what we've done and the friends we've made. I don't see normalcy in any of that, and I'm perfectly happy."
Chara blinked, as he rubbed his chin. "...Wow. Once again, I really can't find an arguement against that...but still. You're completely on-point about the ditz' part."
"You fantasize over chocolate. You're utterly obsessed with it. Any time there's a subject even hinting at chocolate, you'll drool."
"Chocolate is divine. I won't accept any arguments."
"But Cinnamon is so much better!" Asriel defended. Chara turned towards him, held his hand out and booped his snootle. He blushed immediately and covered it up. "M-Meeeeh! Y-You booped my snootle!"
"I SAID I won't accept ANY arguements." Chara deadpanned.
Muffet giggled. "Ahuhuhu~Their sibling banter is one of the most amusing parts of my day! Especially when it's he younger brothers against the eldest!"
Red chuckled. "Ha! They are pretty hilarious when they're arguing!" She then realized that Muffet was still holding out the Spider Donut and Spider Cider to her. She sighed a little, not wanting to put it off any longer. It's a new world, Red. Time to try new things, I guess. Red gently takes the Spider Donut first, took a couple deep breaths, and takes a bite out of it. A couple of cautious chewing later, she blinked. "...Hey. This isn't half-bad!" Red eats the rest of her Spider Donut and then takes the offered Spider Cider. She takes a bit of a big sip at first. "And the Cider is pretty good too! Even when they're made of spiders, they're delicious!" She tilted her head. "Though...doesn't it-"
"Bother me that I enjoy the products as well? Not really." Muffet waved her top right hand dismissively. "It's not unheard of that Spiders eat other spiders. All of them realize this, and yet they volunteer anyway. They don't mind at all."
"The subject is a bit...complex and strange, at best. You can just top it off by saying that they're VERY loyal to Muffet." Chara nodded.
It was always strange how Muffet can be so heavily defensive of spiders yet casually have them baked into her goods. He guessed that the hypocrisy lessens when he realizes it may just in her predatory nature for her to eat other spiders, and that they were magical spiders instead of regular spiders. The blow is slightly cushioned by that fact, and the fact that they don't mind in the slightest. There was never a peep of complaint from any of them or even a blink of hesitance. Their loyalty was completely unquestionable, they live to serve Muffet in any way they can.
Like Chara said, the matter is strange and complex. He eventually found it best to not think about it too hard. He doesn't eat her spider-related products anyway.
Red seemed baffled by the spiders intense loyalty towards their Master to the point of volunteering to be baked. She took Chara's hint and chose not to dwell on it for an extended period of time. "Well regardless, these are really good! If you ask me, I think your bakery is going to do great!"
"Why thank you, dearie! I make sure that not all of my goods are made of spiders, though. I wish to cater to both humans and monsters." Muffet nods, her top-left hand pushing hair away from her eyes, which all blinked from left to right. "I'm feeling more confident than ever, though. Because Chara is in full support, even if he personally doesn't like my spider-related products."
"Well, now I know he can be just a nice guy as his brothers, when he feels like showing it. Good thing." Red nodded. She cocked her head to the side as she remembered something. "Hold on, will we have to pay for these?"
"Oh no no, don't fret about that! Since you're new around here, I've made those free. All of my friends can have treats here for free when I'm not working, and it's just a friendly get-together. When I AM working though, I have to keep a decent level of fairness to all customers. Though Frisk sometimes pays either way just to be courteous. Not that I don't appreciate it, it's just not entirely necessary."
"You needed some money to get you started, right?" Frisk shrugged.
"Hmm, true~"
If there's one other thing that Chara noticed about Muffet, was that she's nowhere near as greedy for money as she used to be. She's still plenty greedy, though. "Right. Well, I think this was a wonderful visit. Buuuut I think we oughta go now. We have more places to be."
"Right." Red turned to Muffet and shook her middle right hand. "You can count me as a customer in the future. Maybe we can all hang out and help me get used to things. Just save up those Spider Donuts!"
"Ahuhuhu~I have a hunch that you and I are going to get along just fine, Red." She clasped her middle hands. "Well, don't let me keep you around for too long. You've got places to be, monsters to be introduce you to."
Red nodded. "Right. See you later!" She turned on her heel and grabbed Asriel by the paw. "Come on, Asriel! We're gonna get me more Cinnamon Bunnies!"
Asriel blinked as she began dragging him off. "We are?"
Chara and Frisk were also going to leave. Though a spider suddenlt appeared in front of Chara and pointed at Muffet. He turned to Muffet, who was smiling innocently at him, though he knew better. He groaned. "Muffet. Please don't make me do it. You've embarassed me enough for today!"
"Be a gentleman, Chara~" Frisk patted his shoulder with a bright smile.
"Uggghhh..." Chara accepted defeat as he walked up to Muffet. She offered him her middle right hand, which he gently takes hold of and places a soft kiss upon it. He was heavily embarassed by this, but he was also genuine. He pulls away. "I'll be back in time for our tea session. I'm coming back for those chocolate bars! And...you, of course. Because you still need to out the finishing touches on your bakery, right? When you're done, you can take a load off and relax with me." Chara turned turned sideways and realized that Frisk was srill wearing a wide smile, and he could see that from a distance she shouldn't have been able to hear too much, Red was smiling too. Crap! She's got really good ears! He turns back to Muffet, rubbing his neck shyly. "Um...I'm just gonna go now. So...I guess I'll, uh...see you later. Ring me if you need anything sooner."
"I'll keep that in mind. Bye, Chara Dearie~" Muffet says affectionately with a mild blush as she and her spiders began waving goodbye to Chara and the others.
Frisk and Chara walked away from the Spider Bakery and caught up with Red and Asriel. The latter duo slowed down so the former duo could catch up with them. Red saw that Chara's pink blush has gotten a couple shades pinker, which he tried to hide by completely hiding his face with his hooded poncho. She couldn't help but chuckle at the reaction. He wasn't so bad after all. Like his brothers, he also has his moments of sweetness. She's going to make sure she remembers this. Frisk was greatly amused by the exchange, while Asriel just seemed happy that Chara and Muffet were still getting along nicely.
Red smirked. He made himself out to be all cool, and admittedly he is. But he got so embarassed when Muffet explained to Red just how much of a sweetheart he can really be when he puts his mind to it, especially towards her, it was funny to watch. She couldn't help herself.
"Chara Dearie, huh?"
"SHUT UP!"
Chara: *Face In hands* How could this happen to me...
Muffet: Don't be so down, Chara Dearie~I thought you were adorable in this!
Chara: I'm not supposed to be adorable!
Muffet: *Pinches Cheek* Too bad, you already are~
Frisk: Totally True~
Asriel: True Blue~
Red: I don't know Chara very well, but I have a feeling that this bond has been going on for a while.
Frisk: Oh, it has.
Chara: Frisk. I hate you, SO much right now...
Frisk: No ya don't. You know you love me! Of the brotherly platonic kind of course~
Asriel: Me too! *hugs*
Muffet: You're so sweet, Chara! Ahuhuhu~
Chara: *Blush* Ugh...I'm gonna end this chapter before my humiliation progresses...
