#fs!muffet

Prompt: Kemonomimi

Pairing: Fellswap Muffans (and some Muffyrus)

Category: Familial

Note: That’s right, I am going to complete Flufftober! It’s 2 years later, but it’s happening!

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Young monsters wear stripes. In more peaceful universes, these simply help identify a monster's age. In dangerous universes where monsters lie, steal, and dust to get ahead, stripes provide a modicum of protection for children. After all, who is going to waste magic bullets for such a meager amount of EXP?

Once a monster's animal ears and tail appear, all bets (and stripes) are off. The badge of adulthood told other monsters exactly how much EXP and trouble a monster was worth. Predator ears and tails warned potential attackers of their victim's power and intent. Prey ears and tails loudly broadcast an opportunity for a quick, safe stat boost.

So far Mutt's sharp wolf ears and Raspberry’s striped sweaters had served the pair well, but Mutt began to lose sleep to a gut-churning mixture of hope and worry as Raspberry teetered on the cusp of graduation from stripes to ears. What form would his undersized brother's ears and tail take?

Please let them be something suitably intimidating, Mutt pleaded to whatever unseen power might be listening to the desperate prayers of monsters in their stars-forsaken Underground, though none had answered him yet. I just want him to be safe.

Mutt awoke to the sound of his brother wailing. The normally lackadaisical skeleton leapt to his feet in an instant, bone attacks at the ready, wolf ears twitching to pinpoint Raspberry’s exact location. Right outside his bedroom door? Weird, but convenient. 

Mutt opened the door, ready to deliver some well-deserved brotherly teasing, but the sight before him froze his SOUL in his chest. There, atop his brother’s skull (and ridiculously easy for him to see from his superior height) sat a pair of oversized, floppy rabbit ears. Mutt didn't bother checking his brother’s tail; the ears alone were a death sentence. He stood speechless, his little brother staring at him with wide, desperate eyelights.

"I HAVE FLOPPY BUNNY EARS," wailed Raspberry unnecessarily when his brother hesitated.

Mutt fumbled for some reassurance to give him. "maybe they'll stand up if you give 'em time?" The words fell flat, and both skeletons knew it.

"THEY'RE BUNNY EARS." Hysterical tears overflowed Raspberry’s sockets. He looked pathetic in his plain, unadorned adult shirt and drooping ears, exactly the kind of appearance that screamed EXP fodder. Turning away from his unhelpful brother, Raspberry dashed down the stairs… and out the front door.

Shit.

Not bothering to throw anything on over his “tank top and boxers” sleepwear ensemble, Mutt followed.

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Muffet just wanted to get the tabletops in her bar scrubbed down before she opened for business, but the commotion taking place outside her door caused her elegant lynx ears to flatten in irritation. With a sigh, she abandoned further cleaning in favor of going outside to teach some noisy hooligans a lesson. Instead of the expected hooligans, the spider monster found skeletons, skeletons she grudgingly admitted to being quite fond of, surrounded by a mob of EXP hungry attackers.

The first time she'd laid (all five) eyes on the skeletons, Mutt had been digging in the dumpster behind her restaurant, the tiniest of babybones tucked under his worn striped sweater for warmth. Realizing he'd been caught, he bravely stood his ground. He only had one request, and it wasn't MERCY for himself.

"you c'n dust me if y'want, but please don't hurt my little bro."

He pulled the babybones out from under his shirt, just a tiny skull visible from the tightly swaddled maroon blanket that he now wore as a bandana. Little Raspberry was fast asleep, exhausted by cold and hunger.

So she fed them. 

And she let them move into a house she owned in Snowdin. 

And if she happened to "find" spider silk garments in exactly their respective sizes as they grew up, who dared to question it? The skeleton brothers were orphans, after all.

Her orphans.

The older skeleton brother, Mutt, pushed his younger brother behind him, but not before Muffet spotted the source of the problem. Poor little Raspberry had sprouted a damning pair of lop bunny ears overnight. Magic crackled in the air, but it dissipated as soon as Muffet stepped outside onto the snow covered street. Her reputation alone forced the assailants to take a collective step back.

Pretending not to notice the deference,  Muffet strode over to the pair of skeletons. Standing next to Raspberry, she stroked the soft magic of one of his ears. In a voice that carried to the entire crowd, she complimented him.

"Ahuhuhu, I haven't seen such elegant Boss monster ears since Queen Toriel stopped visiting! You'll achieve great things with ears like those, I'd bet my restaurant on it!"

After her words faded, Muffet fixed each monster in the crowd with a baleful five-eyed glare, the tufts on her lynx ears giving her an impressive height and providing the crowd with a spectacular view of her wicked fangs. The unspoken statement rang out crystal clear: these young skeletons were under Muffet's protection, and her ruthlessness far outweighed the damage done by having an adorable pair of lop bunny ears, even with the little cotton ball tail to match.

READ ON AO3

[Profile]

Inktober Day 14: Muffet

FellSwap! Muffet bashfully enters the scene!

Fellswap Muffet - Profile

[Introduction comic]

Local tall goth girl, she gets a little aggressive when she gets a goal in mind so she does actually beat up people for fun sometimes. She won’t hurt the human, though, and demands that they fight her. She will give up, and let them through.

She used to work small side jobs for the guards, and eventually became one, gradually climbing the ranks until the last Judge was executed and she was offered the job.

She doesn’t like going through the cold areas of the underground, but she will when she hears of anything she needs to see for herself. She will also visit the Snowdin forest to see Grillby, who sells frozen sweets there. They’re friends.