"Are you sure that's what's best?" She asks, her sweet voice dripping with concern. "I mean...with the way things are... There are better options."

I frown, scrawling on a notepad in aggravated scribbles. This is what I want.

She reads over my notes, taking in the haste that I'd drawn them. "I know, I know, but don't you think there's anything else you'd like?" She suggests, pondering another way to convince me. "Engineering is hot on the market, that might not be bad… Or Psychology! You've always been into Psychology!" She exclaims, clasping her claws together against her chest.

If I could growl, I would. I click the pen violently before jotting down my answer. What job would I be able to get with Psychology? It's not like I'd be a very good therapist.

She reads it over again, biting her lip and closing her eyes, breathing through the nostrils in that way she does under distress. "Okay…" She sighs. "I'm just not quite ready…"

My scowl disappears and I ease up my grip on the pen. I stretch out my hand, placing it comfortingly on her shoulder.

She looks up, seeing the concern and sympathy in my eyes.

Then I find myself in her tight embrace, with silky green fur hugging warmly around me. I close my eyes, listening to her quiet sobs as she strokes my head. It could have lasted forever, but still not long enough.

She let me go, wiping away fresh tears with the butt of her palm. "Eighteen years and I'm still not ready."

I smile sympathetically, not being able to feel the overflowing emotions she has for me. I bring my notepad up once more, writing slowly and deliberately, appreciating the effortless way the pen flows over the fresh paper. I peel the note away from the pad, making sure not to rip the thin paper.

She takes the note, reading it carefully as her emerald green eyes begin to tear.

I love you, Mom.

I've never really been one to buckle under emotions; normally I just accept things the way they are, even when others are breaking down. She'd made me triple-check to make sure I had everything I wanted, we'd said our final goodbyes, then she gave me one last hug and made me promise to write- which I did. But the whole fear and realization never hit me until I heard the door of the bus squeak shut behind me, leaving me behind; on my own for the first time.

I shield my light sensitive eyes from the bright morning sun with the sleeve of my sweatshirt. When my eyes finally adjust, I realize with sudden awe that I stand just feet away from my childhood fantasy. I take in the beautiful masonry of the arch, with vines crawling their way up the weathered stone from years and years of aging, and the cast-iron sign that welcomed me. Monsters University.

I swallow, then take a deep breath, letting it all wash over me. I lug my book bag over my shoulder, then lengthen the handle on my travel bag so I can pull it behind me. Here goes.

I take the main street, walking amongst other incoming students, and find myself amazed at all of the diversity. Monsters of all shapes, sizes, and colors stroll about the campus as if one is no different than the other. I'd been worried that a misfit like me wouldn't exactly blend with the crowd, with my pale white fur contrasting to all of the exuberant colors, but a little spark inside of me brightens and tells me I'll be just fine.

I eventually turn right, taking a more shady cobblestone path beneath the trees. Several monsters sit in the shade; studying, chatting, or just taking their time. It's pretty relaxing- this part is. I stop for a second, breathing in slowly, appreciating the sweet smell of the greenery, letting the small specks of sunlight that filter through the trees to warm me. I could get used to this life...

"Hey there, freshman!"

I jump to the side in fright, slightly startling the newcomer slithering towards me, but he quickly shakes it off.

"I'm Jay the RA, and I'm here to say that registration is that way!"

I stare blankly for a second, then give a small nod.

He probably didn't see it; his smile wavered a little, but he managed to keep the cheery attitude as I saunter away. "Have a great first day!"

That was certainly...different, but I guess it was helpful. I head off in the direction he pointed me, and soon find a registration table. A few other monsters who had also gotten here early were already in line, so I just hopped in behind them.

When it was my turn, I was greeted by an overly friendly yellow monster.

"HEY I'm Kay! What's your name freshman?"

As she speaks I'm hit with the overwhelming stench of coffee, LOTS of coffee.

She waits patiently for me to answer.

I mentally slap myself for keeping her waiting like this. She must have a lot to do today and me slowing her down isn't any help.

I pull my notepad and pen out of my pocket and quickly jot my name down before turning it to her so she can see it.

Mavis Avalona

Her smile remains, but I do see confusion flash in her eyes for just a second as she squints at my writing. She then shuffles through a bin of folders on her left, picking out one and handing it over the table to me. "Here you are!" She grins. "Now you can drop your bags off here and get your picture taken with Trey!"

I blink several times, still trying to adjust my eyes several minutes after the blinding flash.

In my claws is my new ID, depicting myself with a cheesy half-smile. I look like I'm trying to figure out some bad joke. In all the excitement of "Say hooray" I didn't have time to sweep my messy white hair out of my face, so a few strands fell in front of my eyes.

Could be worse. Reassures the little voice in my head.

I look around at the bright campus around me. More monsters had flooded in through the gates as the day went on. I'm sure they're still taking in the sights, like I was. A few that had gotten here early were already checking into the dorms; I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea for me to do the same.

"Mavis...Avalona, correct?" Asks the RA, politely making sure to get my name right. "Room 425, you're bags should be up there already."

I nod, returning the friendly smile before heading for the stairs. I want to take my time, getting used to this new environment before I officially settle in.

Floor 1: A cluster of newly arriving freshman crowding the hallways before meeting their roommates. I wonder what mine will be like…

Floor 2: Several monsters getting unpacked and chatting amongst themselves. I hope we get along well.

Floor 3: Everyone's gotten settled in, some are catching up on lost sleep, others have gone out to explore campus. I hope she understands…

Floor 4: Here I am.

The last floor is still and quiet, with only a few monsters already in their rooms getting unpacked. I take a deep breath, appreciating the calm atmosphere of the dorm. I know it won't be that way for long.

I stroll down the freshly vacuumed, blue carpet, counting down the weathered brass numbers on the doors until I reach mine. It's locked.

I absent-mindedly jingle the key in my claws, half submerged in bewilderment and thought. This campus is going to change me, in ways I probably can't even imagine, and this is where I'll be staying. All I have to do is slide the key in, turn it a little…

Click.

...And open the door.

My claws click on the cold wooden floor. The only thing illuminating the room is the single window- depicting a few rays of silver light shining through a thin layer of clouds. On each side of the room is a bed, both with bare mattresses. Along with the beds are a matching pair of desks, both with a lonely lamp still on them. I run my claw across the dusty surface of one of the desks, leaving a small streak in the stained, chestnut wood.

It is a bit shabby, but somehow it still feels…home-y.

I lift the window up slightly, letting the stale air out to freshen up the room. A few clouds have gathered since I arrived; the sweet smell of approaching rain follows.

I look back at the unkempt room. 'Suppose I should get unpacking.

I had dusted up the room, and already it seemed to shine a little bit brighter. One of the lamps is broken- yes, I did try plugging it in. I assume it's left over from a graduate of last year.

The room is spotless; no sign of my roommate. I begin to wonder if something happened, or maybe she just wants to arrive late. I don't know… I know it shouldn't, but this really is getting me a little jittery- well, more than a little. I'd call it full blown nervous right now.

Then the doorknob jiggles. I hear muffled chatters from the other side of the door as a key rattles in the brass knob.

An orange monster pops one of his antennae eyes in, and completely overlooks me.

"Yeah, this is the room." He says as he slips his small body in. I recognize the yellow shirt he's wearing; it matches the other cheery monsters that had been directing incoming freshmen to registration. The "Smile Squad".

"Those ones- the big ones. Yeah, bring 'em in." He gestures to a monster in the hallway.

His companion heaves in a giant travel bag, dropping it with an ungraceful thud on the wooden floor. "The hell." He sighs. "Bring the whole kitchen, why don't she."

"We got a lot more to go, Carl, but my guess is this'll be the worst." Mumbles the first in monotone.

"Careful there. I think the smiles are starting to get to you." Jokes the second, or Carl. His eye scans the room for a second, but long enough to notice that one section of the wall is paler than the rest, or rather, that there's someone else in the room.

It takes only a moment for the first monster to realize that his friend has all but stopped breathing and fallen over dead. He turns around, his eyes immediately locking with my own bloody red ones.

Had he not had an image to keep up I'm quite sure that he would have broke down in tears and begged for death.

"HI I'm Ray and this is my friend Muray we were just here to drop off some bags but now we'll be on our way!" With that the two of them were out the door and down the hall as fast as their squat little legs could carry them.

I stand there, not having moved for the past five minutes. There are now three more unbelievably heavy bags in the room than there initially were, making a total of three unbelievably heavy bags in the room.

At least I know my roommate is coming. Says the little voice in my head cheerily. But… I glance down at the bags laying lopsided on the floor. I don't know when she's coming.

The room is clean, and I am alone. I just don't know for how long.

I turn back to look at the rest of the room. I haven't touched either of the beds. I was hoping that my roommate would show, and that we could agree on which beds we would each claim, but that didn't work out the way I planned.

I sigh heavily to myself. Alright then.

The soothing aroma of oncoming rain fills the room, and the gentle pit pat of a few droplets echo on the window sill. I've closed it just enough to keep the water out, but cracked just enough to let the open air in. To me, the smell is refreshing; it helps me relax. Of course, laying down in a new bed with my soft, cuddly red blanket is a help with that, too.

I exhale peacefully through my triangular button nose, pulling the covers up to my chin. I now have confirmation that the bed is comfy.

I still have a little work left to do on my desk, though, so I should probably get to work on that.

Sliding myself out from under the covers, I place my feet gently on the wood floor. I turn around, making sure to straighten out the edges of the blanket, then head over to my new desk.

I had just placed a few of my things on it, but it still needed a bit of neatening up. There were a few stray notebooks piled up front, some pencils and pens shoved to the side, and a tiny pocket notepad that I carry with me wherever I go.

I take a seat in the rolly chair, losing my train of thought for a moment as I spin around. I love rolly chairs.

Okay, okay. Says the little voice in my head dizzily. You have stuff to do.

I curl my eel-like tail in my lap, crossing my legs at the ankles as I get situated. I shuffle the notebooks into order- red first, purple last- and gather up the pencils and pens to put in one of the drawers. There really is no order to put them in, so they're just a clump of sharp objects that I have held tightly in my clutches.

Rattlerattle.

OH nononononono I'm not ready nonono give me five more minutes no… This is the point at which the tiny little voice in my head went from a small whisper to a panicked yell. I have very little control over what it says and I can assure you that some of the things that it's saying right now are very not nice.

The door creaks open halfway, and stays there for a few moments. Then proceeds to swing the rest of the way.

A murky blue monster slips herself in the room, ducking to make sure her head doesn't bang on the door frame. Two wide, golden eyes scan the room, taking in every detail, every shadow, and every speck of dust. She runs her claws through her quill-like hair. The spines make a satisfying little rustle.

And then she steps the rest of the way in the room, closing the door behind her.

A giant pair of wings rest at her back, and a long tail sweeps behind her. The webbed frill at the end drags slightly on the floor, but still had this hypnotic way about it.

She takes a deep, shaky breath, fumbling with a few pamphlets in her claws. She rubs at her face like she's trying to get something off, but I don't see anything. Must be some strange habit.

I drop the pens in my hand with a clatter into the drawer I'd chosen for them. ...I didn't expect it to be that loud.

She abruptly turns to find the sound, her eyes finally focusing in on me.

She jumps out of reflex, dropping the pamphlets in her rush and tumbling backwards over her tail with a loud thump.

I wanted to scream at myself for not saying anything, but I can't really help either of those things.

I shoot up out of my seat, not bothering to think of a plan first.

But she's already getting up, incredibly shaken, but up.

"I-I'm so sorry." She apologizes- her voice barely audible- as she scrambles to her feet. "I just wasn't… prepared for that."

I reach down and pick up the pamphlets she'd dropped. I give them a quick glance over. "Ag Club" and "Junior CDA". Interesting.

I hand them back to her, managing to muster a small smile.

"Um...uh, thanks." She says, taking them back. Then her eyes widen like she's just remembered something. "Oh right… My name's Avery. Avery McDutt." She holds out her hand for me to shake.

Her hands are worn and calloused, with curved ivory claws, and a C-shaped scar that runs down the side of her thumb.

I take her hand, giving it a gentle shake. Avery smiles, showing off a row of large, slightly yellowed teeth. They're sharp, but a bit rounded off at the point.

"Um, so what's your name?"
Haha, yeahhh. I knew this moment was coming.

I hold up one finger, silently asking her to wait. She looks confused, but goes with it anyway.

The notepad was already at my desk, turned to a fresh new page. I shuffle through the opened drawer of pens and pencils, pulling out the first one that my claws can wrap around.

I jot my note down in fresh blue ink, then turn for Avery to see.

My name is Mavis Avalona.

She reads it. Slowly and carefully. Her brow furrows, and she looks up to me. "'There somethin' wrong with your voice?"

I allow myself only a small moment of panic. I quickly jot down another note below the first one.

I'm mute.

Her expression softens, but the confusion remains. "Wait...Really? You're…" She puts her hand on her neck about where the vocal chords of a normal monster would be. "Physically?"

I nod, mimicking the gesture.

"Oh…" She blinks a few times, thinking quietly to herself. "That's...new. I…"

I tilt my head to the side a little bit, patiently waiting.

Avery sees my little gesture. She snickers. "Pfft. I guess I'll just have to get used to you."

A bubbly feeling wells in my chest. I can't quite identify it, but it's so happy.

I nod in thanks, grateful that she didn't reject me as weird. I can feel my tail curling around my leg, as it often does when I get too excited, but I do nothing to stop it.

Avery smiles warmly, then turns to the rest of the room. "I should probably get my stuff unpacked before I collapse." She snickers. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Wow, you really cleaned this place up." Avery says as she adjusts her lamp- we'd discussed who would get the broken one, and I volunteered since I'm nocturnal anyway; she still insisted that she'd get me a new bulb for it. "I doubt my room has ever been this clean."

I shrug. It's a little habit of mine.

She saunters over to her bed, flopping down on it for the first time. A satisfied sigh comes from somewhere within the pillow.

A breathy laugh escapes me. Same.

"Oh my gosh." Avery says playfully as she rolls over on her back. "I forgot to ask your major."

Ah, yes that. I crawl over to the edge of my bed to snatch the notepad and pen that I had been using. I jot it my note down quickly, then crumple up the yellow paper and toss it to Avery. It lands squarely on her nose.

She glares at me playfully before unfolding the paper and reading my note.

Scaring.

She's silent for a moment.

I sit patiently on the edge of my bed, waiting for some kind of response.

She looks up at me, her expression somewhat blank as she scans me up and down. Then a friendly smirk spreads across her face. "Certainly gave me a fighten."

I smile, a small blush upon my cheeks. Thank you. I make a small circular gesture with my claw, asking her the same question.

"Huh? Oh, I'm an Aviation Major. I always loved being in the air, so I just thought it was best. To do something that makes me happy." She runs her claws through her quills again, then she pauses. "But... I have to ask, what possessed you to pursue something like Scaring?"

I think for a second, wondering how to best answer that question.

Then I glance back up at Avery, my head tilted to the side ever so slightly. My clouded third-eyelids swish over my iris, giving the whole eye a dreadful crimson hue. I let a wicked grin slide across my void expression.

"OH MY GODS THAT IS TERRIFYING! PUT IT BACK. PUT YOUR FACE BACK JUST PUT IT BACK MAVIS!" Avery shouts as she scrambles backwards. "YOU'VE MADE YOUR POINT JUST LET ME SLEEP PEACEFULLY TONIGHT."

I blink myself back to normal, grinning sheepishly. I didn't expect that kind of reaction.

"Oh geez." Avery pants with her hand clutching her chest. "'Never seen anything like that except on TV."

I sway back and forth a little bit, modestly staring at the ceiling.

"I might...have to sleep on that." She says as she reaches for her swampy green, down blanket.

I nod, silently agreeing. I'm getting a little sleepy myself, so I scurry under my silky covers, wrapping myself in the softness that still smells like home.

"I'll try not to wake you up in the morning. I tend to be an early riser." I hear Avery say from under her own cozy sheets.

I give her a thumbs up. Sounds good.

"Okay. G'night Maivs."

I close my eyes, letting the sweet embrace of sleep slowly envelop me, but before I completely slip away, I hear Avery whisper so quietly that I'm barely even sure that I heard her.

"Good luck tomorrow."

Heyyyyyyyy guys! It's definitely been a while since I've been active, but I'm not quite dead yet! Now that I'm back at school it's been really busy, but that to be expected. Oh yeah, I'm a freshman now! It's actually not as bad as everyone told me it would be. I'm sure it's all a matter of perspective, though. Speaking of freshman, there's my fic! Craze is still in progress, but I haven't given up on it! I'm just thinking of doing some real editing on it... perhaps rewriting... I don't know. I'd like some input on what I should do about that, so reviews would be a big help. But anyway, back to the current story! I hate to admit it, but this one does seem more promising. I actually just conjured up a scrappy character and walked around in her for a bit, but then I got attached. This has happened more than I would like to admit... So this fic takes place two years before Mike and Sulley's freshman debut, there won't be any Oozma madness (although I can almost guarantee that they'll make a few appearances here or there). But anyway, I think Mavis and Avery had a good idea about that whole sleep thing. I'm gonna try and catch some myself. See ya later. Elf out!