Disclaimer: I only own my original characters and the few original places. The rest of the characters, Mt. Ebott, and it's city belong to Toby Fox.
Author's Note: Sorry about any grammatical or wording errors! I'm not new to FanFiction, but I'm certainly not a distinguished, well experienced writer. Still, this story wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote about it! So, bare with me. It might be a bit boring at first, as I'm setting up important facts and reasoning for the first few chapters. It should be around Chapter Four where we meet Papyrus and Sans! I'm also trying my best to make sure Ashley is not a Mary-sue, but doesn't remain an annoying Plain Jane forever.
The first sightings of the monsters caused slight panic among a group of drunks in this little city. Everyone just thought they were crazy or seeking attention. A month later, government officials and armed forces moved in. Of course, the Mayor soothed the frightened masses, claiming this was a military drill. They erected fences under this guise. People started leaving then, if they lived in apartments or had other places to go.
That's when the public announcement came. The Mayor had called as many people as possible to a city meeting and the local news station supported the broadcast. Not one soul in the city missed the announcement.
Monsters were real and they were here to stay. Apparently, they'd been trapped under Mount Ebott's system of caverns and caves. Magic was real too, apparently. Humans, of course, had been the imprisoners. The monsters had been trapped for thousands of years and faded into myth and legend. But, no they were real and the city was officially being sequestered by the government in order to perform an experiment.
They were going to see if monsters could truly integrate with human society.
After the Mayor's speech, a child appeared on stage, claiming to be the Ambassador to the monsters. Of course, this was not taken seriously, and was nearly thrown off as a government joke or some other reasoning as to why the Mayor would give such an announcement. Then they made an appearance. The monsters. Specifically, the Queen and King of the Monsters.
They terrified everyone. Goats, anthropomorphic goat creatures walking towards the Mayor. Some ran away screaming. Many, many of the people who had another place to go left the city. Some stayed, simply because they had to or they wanted to participate in the experiment.
Oh yes, the Experiment. Humans would take on monster roommates, learn about them, gauge how monster and human relations would work out. Who would need to be protected from who? Where did monsters fit in on the surface, culturally? Was magic going to need to be regulated? Would there need to be different laws for monsters?
The world outside of their city was in shock and awe. The city was in shock, awe, and fear. Some from outside of the city attempted to move here, to join in the experiment. But, there were strict regulations and no one was allowed in, only out. The imposing gates were being replaced, upgraded, and turned into something that could be protected better.
The world didn't want to let the unknown out and monsters did not want to be run back into their caverns because of fear and violence.
Ashley Jones was terrified, confused, and put in a predicament where she would have to face her worst nightmare or become homeless.
Ashley had lived in an apartment with two other roommates who had been vastly more well off than she had been and without them, she probably would have been on the streets of this city. She always paid her portion of the rent and utilities, but after that, she couldn't afford much else aside from her essentials and food.
Moving wasn't an option, as they were giving people two weeks to either leave, move within the city, or become part of this project. That meant she would either take in monsters and receive stipends from the government or manage to scrounge up enough money to pay for a new apartment outside (or inside) of the city. The latter was impossible and she refused to be homeless again.
So she faced the fact she would have to live with monsters. When she was young, she had night terrors, some she would remember, but most were forgotten. She could handle fake monsters, some horror movies (to an extent), and she even enjoyed Halloween. But, it took so long to overcome the fact that monsters weren't real.
But, they were. The public were assured that the monsters acted relatively normal. They were even slightly westernized and cultured, thanks to trash that had apparently fallen to the depths of the caverns. That didn't help really. They didn't seem to be a species based around only goat creatures, but none of the other monsters made an appearance, for their own safety.
That made things even more questionable. It filled Ashley with anxiety that was quickly making her want to run to the library and put a plea for help out onto the internet. After all, she didn't own a computer and didn't have internet anymore, so that was going to cut into a lot of her time if she needed to research something.
Tomorrow was the day that all who wanted to participate in the program would have to make the trip to the City Hall in order to apply for a position. Ashley clutched her stomach and curled up on the ratty old couch she was left with. She was so scared of both options. She couldn't very well leave the city, she walked everywhere as it was and the next town was a couple of days of walking to get to.
If she ended up homeless on the streets of this small city, she would still have to face the monsters as they made their lives there. She would face her fear of the creatures one way or another and she didn't want live through being homeless again. It was demeaning, terrifying, dangerous, and disgusting.
She fell over on the couch, still curled up and savoring the thread-bare fabric that held it all together. It was a bit like her anxiety, the only thing holding all of it in was her desperation to live and be happy again, but that was threadbare and used up and holes were likely going to develop.
Tomorrow wasn't going to be a fun day for her.
However, in this city there was someone quite eager to pluck up a few poor monsters and give them a place in the world. There was nothing they would have liked more.
This person was already waltzing about their impeccably clean apartment, pushing items to and fro, straightening what was seemingly already straight. It was the perfect, clean, and well taken care of apartment. The furniture was white and modern and gorgeous and oh the decorations, the decorations were superb.
It brought a sweet smile to the stranger's face as they dusted over their collection with a white, feathered duster. Oh yes, they wanted monster roommates very badly. The person stepped back, admiring the collection with yearning eyes.