Proper Petcare

[Muffet playing soul fetch with her pet]

"Alright, sweetie, are you ready?"

Muffet beckoned and the sizable Muffin-Spider complied immediately, expertly navigating through the nest of intertwined webs in a bit to get closer to its owner. The spider giggled loudly as her pet approachedrolled out in front her, extended all of its large legs to lower their body. A low rumble coming from its sugary insides made the web under him wobble just a bit, as it whinnied for attention.

"Ahuhuhu! You're the cutest little pet a lady could ask for." she cooed, her top two set of hands reaching out to pet the monster all over its large head. It leaned just a bit closer, nuzzling her hands one by one, making her giggle even more. "Well, guess what, today you're getting a special treat!"

She reached into the many folds of her clothing and pulled out something that immediately covered the area in its glimmer: a beautiful red SOUL, filled to the brim with Determination. It pulsed in her hand, sensing less than optimal conditions, but unable to do much without the close presence of its owner.

"Here's a game we haven't played in such a long time." she purred, fangs glinting in the red glow. The SOUL's innate power was enough to mystify and entice her at every turn, but with some difficulty, managed to ignore it for the moment.

The Muffin-Spider sat on its hind legs, it's large, sugar-coated tongue hanging loose as it waited for her. Muffet gave her pet another loving pat on the head, before taking a few steps back. She carefully gripped the SOUL in her top set of arms and took aim. All five eyes narrowed in brief concentration, trying to go for a large trajectory to make the game more interesting.

"Fetch!" she cried, tossing the SOUL with all her might.

The red glow left her grasp and flew right across the sizable chamber, illuminating all the carefully constructed webs in its wake. The spiders scurrying here and there stopped in their tracks, just watching the SOUL travel through the air. They took significantly less note of the sizable shadow also flying across several feet higher. This was no surprise though, as the glow was definitely more of an eye-catcher.

Muffet's pet wasted absolutely no time, rushing through the spider lair like a sweet, savory bulldozer. It managed to avoid crashing into most of the webs while some of the smaller spiders scurried along, egging the larger monster like they were partaking in a race. It let out a loud mix of a hiss and growl, running past them in a desperate bid to be the first. As the SOUL began its downwards descent, the spider only increased their speed even more, not wanting to let it fall to the ground.

The young spider lady watched with glee as her faithful pet jumped into the air, soaring across the chamber with mouth wide open. Just before it could have gone out of reach, the SOUL touched the adhesive tongue and the monster pulled it right into its maw. Once they managed the landing, with a little help from nearby spiders creating a makeshift runway, the large spider-dessert paused but a moment, before scurrying straight back to its mistress. It came to a screeching halt before her. slouching once more in a relaxed motion

"Good boy, good boy." she cooed. It opened its mouth again and rolled their tongue out, offering the glimmering SOUL back to their owner. She giggled and took it back, cleaning some of the sweet spider's saliva off. Above them, the rest of the spiders brought the other, larger shadow back to its original spot, always attentive towards their commanding mistress. "Would like you to go again?"

The spider jumped at least a foot into the air, grumbling-growling-grunting-whinnying in agreement. Muffet nodded and pulled her hand back again, sticking her tongue out just a little bit past the lips, as she once more took aim and fired off the SOUL. It flew across the chamber as before, immediately followed by the other bundle above. The animated spider-dessert roared and charged straight after the prize, its unstoppable sprint making Muffet giggle loudly.

After several rounds, her pet took a moment to recoup, cutely slumping down before her. It was still up for fun and games, but definitely needed a minute of pauses, exhausted from the very satisfying game they so rarely managed to play. Muffet stroked its face, scratching at it in a way that made the spider squeal with delight.

In the meantime, her spiders lowered the other set piece of the game, all bundled up in a constantly trembling cocoon. She grinned and sat down on the little chair her spiders brought, just watching for a moment as it wiggled in every direction, like a broken metronome. Reaching out, she pulled a finger down from the top, slicing the top half open just enough to reveal Frisk inside, chalk white from all the free-falling in the past hour or so. The SOUL in Muffet's hand pulsed even more, sensing its owner.

"Having fun?" she cooed, resting on chin on one set of hands, while reaching out with another to stroke the human's cheek.

They timidly shook their head, a brief whimper leaving their throat.

"Aw, you should have said so earlier." she mused, tilting her head. All five eyes narrowed next. "And did you learn your lesson?"

Frisk nodded several times in quick succession.

"Are you going to try and steal from my shop again?" she grinned, fangs just about glistening in the red glow.

Even more vigorous head-shaking was the reply.

"Good!" she said, clapping two sets of hands together. "But just in case you would ever consider it..."

Frisk whimpered loudly as Muffet grabbed their prison, carefully cradling them as they approached a fresh set of webbing. She set the human against a sturdy, wide and began to step backwards. As the net tightened up, the purpose of this mechanism dawned on Frisk and they began to struggle more than ever before, but to no avail. They whined loudly as Muffet huffed a bit, finding it more and more difficult to string up the net without breaking it.

She raised her lowest set of hands and whistled loudly for her pet. The Muffin-Spider, now reinvigorated after just a brief and satisfied snooze, rose to attention with a loud whinny.

"Heads up, sweetie!" she called out. "This one's going to be big!"

Her pet was highly enthusiastic about it.

Muffet exhaled and pulled just a little more, making eye-contact with the terrified child again. "Relax, cutie. Just remember the safe word, and you'll be fine." she said.

The child swallowed and tilted their head, having no idea what that word might have been.

"Why, it's the easiest word." the young, but awfully wicked spider flashed her fangs one last time in pure amusement. "You've heard me say it several times by now."

Frisk closed their eyes for a moment, desperately running through every single sentence she has spoken in the past hour. Knowing Muffet though, they also knew this had to have been a trick question and not something simple as 'please'. Finally, the only possible answer crystallized in their head, shining bright as their SOUL.

"F-fetch?" they uttered.

Muffet sighed, reigniting the spark of hope in Frisk's heart. The grin that followed right after, was much less comforting though.

"Ahuhuhu! As you wish!"

And with that, she let go of them as promised.