This was it. Today was the day. After an eternity of paperwork, research, and packing, all the pieces were falling into place. It was finally time to go.

And yet, Millie Webb found herself unable to join the procession of people lining up to board the plane.

She jumped a bit as a gentle hand squeezed her right shoulder, turning to see her mother looking down at her with a sympathetic smile. "Alright. You ready to go?"

Millie gave a half-grin and a shrug, hands tightening around her purple tote. "As ready as I'll ever be," she replied. That at least was the truth. She'd done everything in her power to make sure she'd be prepared for the journey ahead of her. That said, it felt far from being enough. "Just nervous, I guess."

That was putting it lightly. Millie's outer smile concealed the hysterical ball of anxious energy that was running rampant inside of her. She was about to jump headfirst into a completely different world and life without even an inkling as to whether or not it was actually a good idea. For all she knew, this could be the last time she ever saw her mother again. Millie wasn't nervous. She was scared out of her mind.

It had only been eight months since the world was once again reintroduced to monsterkind, and it was clear that things would never be the same. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all had come from the young human child, Frisk Dreemurr, who had led the monsters out of the Underground to the surface world. After doing so, they had established themselves as the official Ambassador between the humans and monsters, making it incredibly clear that the monsters were in fact here to stay. Of course, this garnered a rather large amount of negative backlash, which resulted in the government taking swift action (for once). They allotted Mt. Ebott and the surrounding area to the monsters as a sanctuary of sorts. It wasn't much, but it was a start. Soon after, the small town of Ebott sprung to life, the first monster settlement on the surface in centuries.

People were still skeptical, though. Could monsters and humans really live together? Many were keen to think not. Threats began to pour in against the town, resulting in military units being stationed in Ebott to serve as defensive units should anyone decide to attack the town. This did manage to decrease the amount of threats sent towards the monsters, but tensions still remained uncomfortably high.

It was then that Ambassador Frisk proposed their plan to help integrate monsters into the human world. One hundred human volunteers from all over the country would be sent to live in Ebott. Each person would be paired with a monster household that was willing to take in a human resident. From there, the humans would live with their monster hosts for six months. In that time, both humans and monsters would get to know each other and learn about the other's world. At the end, Ambassador Frisk and the human government would decide how to best proceed.

If all went well, a whole world of opportunities would open up for the monsters.

If, however, something went wrong…

Millie didn't want to think about that.

To her complete amazement, Millie had been chosen as one of the one hundred participants to represent humanity. Her mother had been wildly supportive of her, and Millie herself couldn't have been happier.

That had been two months ago.

Today was the day when the adventure would actually begin.

Millie's mother abruptly pulled her into a tight hug, which Millie gladly returned. "You're going to be fine," her mother reassured with the confidence only a mother could have. "You're a strong-willed person, even if you don't always think so. After all, it takes a lot of guts to even apply to being a part of this program. And out of the thousands of applications they received, they picked you. You can do this."

Millie let out a shaky laugh. "Mom, don't make me cry, I haven't even gotten on the plane yet." Millie could always count on her mother to tell her exactly what she needed to hear. She figured it must be a mom thing. It certainly wouldn't be the same, living without her mother's comforting embrace to turn to in her times of need. Even when she went to college, she was only ever a couple of hours away from home. This was completely new territory for her, and the thought of losing the one constant person in her life made Millie's stomach twist. She frowned. "I'm gonna miss you," she murmured.

"I'm gonna miss you too. Which is why you're going to text me the absolute minute you get off the plane, understand? And text me again when you get to your new home, too. I mean it. And if at any point you don't feel comfortable about who you're staying with or change your mind, give me a call, alright? This is all very new and experimental, and while I know you don't want to hear this, we don't really know how they'll react or if this whole intermingling thing will even work and-."

"Mom." Millie pulled away to look at her mother. Ah, the nagging had returned. This at least made the parting of ways a little bit easier. "Relax. I've got this." Oddly enough, when she said it this time, Millie actually believed it. She did have this. The thought made her stand a little straighter, feeling more confident.

The tension in her mother's shoulders released. "You're right," she replied with a soft smile. "I love you."

"I love you too," Millie responded, returning the smile.

Her mother sniffed. "Now go on. You've got a plane to catch."

With a nod and a nervous but determined gleam in her gray eyes, Millie turned and got into the boarding line, taking the first step towards a new chapter of her life.

The plane ride itself had been rather uneventful. Not that Millie minded. She enjoyed having the quiet time to mentally prepare herself for what was coming next. That said, she was immensely relieved once the plane finally did land. Heights had always made her nervous. Being as petite as she was, the vastness of the open air was quite intimidating, as if the enormity of it all would swallow her up whole.

Breathing a sigh of relief after getting off, glad to have her feet back on the ground, Millie looked around to locate where the baggage terminal was at. To her great dismay, this airport was much busier than the one she had previously come from. Grimacing, Millie clutched her tote close to her chest, tightened the straps of her lime green backpack, and plunged into the fray.

Being small had its pros and cons. One advantage was the ability to duck and weave through even the tiniest of gaps, allowing for Millie to nimbly work her way through the crowd. One disadvantage was the fact that even the slightest bump from a nearby person threatened to send her spiralling to the floor below, which nearly happened on a number of occasions. Usually, whomever she was with at the time served as an effective human shield, but today she was on her own. Millie found herself silently praying that the monsters she'd be staying with would be exceptionally vertically blessed, otherwise she would be in for a rough six months.

At last, Millie emerged from the crowd, gasping for air as though she had been submerged underwater for hours. God, she really hated crowds. Good thing Ebott was relatively small as opposed to most cities.

Taking a moment to send her mother a text announcing her arrival and fix herself by tightening her dirty blonde ponytail and straightening her dark green dress, Millie proceeded to go and collect the rest of her bags. It didn't take her long to spot them, but it did take her a while to get everything out to the shuttle pick-up. Millie found herself struggling to carry everything by herself, seeing as all of her luggage probably weighed as much as she did. To her great annoyance, she caught a number of people stopping to snicker at her plight. She huffed with frustration. Being tiny really did suck sometimes.

Eventually, Millie had to get over her stubbornness and get a cart to help. Once again she found herself hoping the monsters she'd been paired with weren't as weak as herself. Seeing as she occasionally needed help doing things as small as opening a water bottle, that would be a problem. Shaking her head, Millie tried to focus on the positive. Maybe they'd be really huge, like seven or eight feet. Maybe even ten! Or… maybe not. That was a bit of an intimidating height. Then she'd feel way too small. She was only five foot one. No, ten feet was definitely too tall.

Millie let out a yawn as she exited the airport building. Still, if by some chance she had gotten some ten-foot-tall monster, then she'd simply have to learn to cope. After all, calling it quits simply because she didn't like being dwarfed by her hosts was a pretty lame reason. Who knows, maybe she wouldn't mind the height difference so much. Now, if they were even tinier than she was, that would definitely be-

Millie had become so lost in her own thoughts that it took a pair of hands clapping loudly in her face to snap her out of her daze. Startled, she jumped back with a squeak, hands gripping the luggage carrier.

"Good, that seemed to wake you up," huffed a girl about her age, the person responsible for Millie's mini panic attack. She casually flipped her golden blonde hair out of her face and grinned, her teeth almost too white. "If I hadn't stopped you, you'd have run over half the people here, and I don't think anyone would've appreciated that very much. Y'all must've been up awfully early to be as dead asleep on your feet as you are."

Millie blinked and rubbed her arm, suddenly self-conscious. Had she really been that zoned out? She was feeling a bit tired from the long morning. In fact, she probably should have tried to get some sleep on the plane ride. Now, she'd probably be dead by the time she got to her new home, and that certainly wouldn't make the best first impression. Ugh, she really should've thought this through better. Perhaps she could catch up on some rest on the bus ride. "Sorry," she mumbled, not really sure how to reply to the strange clapping girl before her.

The girl laughed loudly in response, causing Millie to wince, and waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. After all, no harm done, right? Just try to pay attention to where you're goin', 'kay?"

"Heh, yeah." Millie edged her way around the girl, eager to get away. She had a bus to get to, and there was no way she was going to come out all this way just to end up missing it because of some random girl.

The girl, however, was not pleased with this development. She placed herself back in front of Millie's cart, much to Millie's annoyance. "Whoa there. Where're you off to in such a hurry?"

Millie took a deep breath, doing her best to remain polite. Why was this girl holding her up? Didn't she have a bus to get to as well? "I sort of have a bus to catch," she replied flatly, stating the seemingly obvious. Why else would she be here?

"Well I figured that," the girl retorted, her head bobbing. "Just seems like an awful lot of stuff for one person, especially someone as small as you. Must be a long way from home, huh?"

"Florida," Millie answered, genuinely surprised by the observation. Well that was unexpected. Seems the girl was more observant than Millie had given her credit for. Great. She was going into an environment where not judging people at face value was critical, and she was already failing with her own species. Clearly Ambassador Frisk had made a wise decision by picking her to represent humanity. "You?"

"Texas," she replied with a wide grin. Ah, that explained the accent. The girl's face scrunched up. "Now if I didn't know any better, I'd guess you were getting ready to head off to Ebott. Am I right or wrong?"

Jeez, was this girl some sort of psychic? "Yeah, how'd you know?"

The girl laughed again. "Because I'm in the same boat as you, girl!" She stuck out a hand. "Bellatrice Potts, professional human, at your service!"

Bellatrice. That was certainly a quirky name. Then again, she was one to talk. Millie returned the handshake. "Millie Webb, nice to meet you." At least now she could say she knew one person in Ebott besides her hosts. Hopefully this would be a continuing trend; her social skills had always been lackluster. "Are the buses here yet?"

Bellatrice shook her head. "Nah, else I'd be on one of them." Oh yeah. Right. "I heard they'd only be about another ten minutes or so, though, if y'all wanna head on over that way?" Millie nodded and followed after her new companion, grateful to have someone able to guide her through the throng of people standing about.

It wasn't long before the two found the bus-less terminal and sat down on the sidewalk, luggage at their side. A good sized crowd had already formed around them with more gathering by the minute. It suddenly struck Millie just how many people would be going on the same crazy journey she was about to embark on. Not just that, but there were so many different people. She spotted a lot of people around her age, but all demographics were pretty well represented. She was surprised to even spot a few seniors standing about. The only notable absence were children. One of the qualifications was that participants must be at least age eighteen. For now, the government was choosing to play it safe and keep children out of the equation, lest something go horribly awry. Millie silently wondered if the day would come when human families would be allowed into the settlement.

"God, I can't believe this is really happening," Bellatrice mused, goofy grin still plastered on her face. "It's all so exciting! We're like...the pioneers! Venturing into uncharted territory."

"Hopefully unlike them, we won't die of dysentery first," Millie replied, which got a loud snort out of Bellatrice.

"Yeah, that'd suck for sure. Definitely not fun." Bellatrice paused. "I wonder what they'll be like."

"The monsters?"

"Yeah!"

Millie shrugged. "Like...people I guess?"

"Yeah, but with, like, fangs and fur and stuff."

"And scales."

"And claws."

Bellatrice paused. "I really can't wait, though. As soon as they announced this whole experiment thing, I knew I had to be a part of it." Millie looked up at her. There was a certain spark in Bellatrice's hazel eyes, a strange sort of glow. Passion. "I love meeting people, making friends. Don't really matter what their background is; the weirder and more diverse, the better, in my book. Seeing how different folks live and think, it fascinates me. So, when I heard that I had a chance to live with a monster? Y'all better believe I was doing paperwork like it was nobody's business." She let about a laugh before her smile shrank a bit. "My folks weren't really too thrilled about me doing this, though. A lot of people in general aren't. They say some of the nastiest things about the monsters, especially where I'm from. That what we're doing isn't right, and that they should all just go back beneath the mountain where they came from, or just be flat out killed all together." Her smile was gone now. "It's hurts to know that people think like that. That being different is enough to make people hate." She sighed. "I just feel that everyone, no matter how different, can understand each other, you know? That if we'd just take the time to really listen to each other, we'd see we're all much more alike than anyone had imagined. We just have to try is all."

Millie watched as Bellatrice went silent. After a moment of hesitation, she placed a hand on Bellatrice's arm. "Well, that's kind of what we're here for, right? To help people understand?"

Bellatrice smiled softly at her. "Yeah, least I sure hope so."

They sat in mutual silence for a moment.

"So," Bellatrice said at last, injecting some life back into her voice, "What about you?"

Millie blinked. "Me?"

"Yeah, what's your story, girl? Gotta be here for some reason, right?"

Millie looked down at the ground in front of her, rubbing her arms. "I haven't exactly done much with my life thus far."

Bellatrice snorted beside her. Millie looked up with a frown. "What?"

"Of course you haven't done much with your life yet, you've barely begun it!" she replied. "How old're you?"

"Twenty."

This caused Bellatrice to raise an eyebrow. "Really? I had you pegged for eighteen, but I still stand by my statement. I'm twenty-three myself, and I couldn't be happier with the amount of nothing I've accomplished. I'm just setting myself up so I can do something real big when I'm older, rather than focus on trying to do a bunch of little things now."

Huh. Millie had to admit to herself, Bellatrice certainly had a unique outlook on things. She was a bit loud and chatty, but Millie found herself liking her. Ambassador Frisk definitely made a good call choosing her.

Shaking her head, Millie continued, "Anyways, I've always sort of struggled to make lasting connections. Fit in. I mean, I'm generally well-liked by most people, but it's all surface level, you know? I don't really have any real friends that I hang out with or anything. I never have. So, I figured, hey, if I can't fit in with humans, then maybe I can with monsters." She laughed humorlessly. "Sounds pretty lame, huh?"

"Are you kidding?" Millie suddenly found an arm wrapped around her shoulders. Bellatrice smiled down at her warmly. "That sounds like a perfectly normal reason to me. In fact, I bet there's a good number of folks here for that very same reason."

"Really?"

"Sure! Hate to break it to you, but you ain't the only one who suffers from loneliness," Bellatrice replied, grinning. "It's kind of in human nature to seek out companionship, even if it's with non-humans. I mean, why else do you think we have pets?"

"Good point," Millie agreed. Maybe she wasn't as pathetic as she had thought. Or, maybe she was, but there were a lot of people just as pathetic, so it was all okay.

She decided to change the subject. "How many monsters are you staying with?"

"Uh, two? Hang on." With a frown, Bellatrice began digging through her purse, muttering something about organization. Millie was suddenly glad she had taken the time to sort everything out neatly beforehand. She eventually pulled out a card similar to the one Millie had and squinted at it. "Yeah, two. 'Grillby' and 'Embry'. You?"

"Same. Two, I mean." Millie pulled out her own card and showed it to Bellatrice. All of the human participants had received a card identifying the monster/s they'd be staying with, but in order to prevent any possible prejudices from forming in advance, the cards simply listed names. While she understood their reasoning, Millie kind of wished she knew more about who'd she be living with. For all she knew, she could be staying with a pair of talking rabbits or swamp monsters. She didn't even know any basic information about them, like what sex they were (assuming they had one; she had learned through research that many monsters reproduce asexually) or how old they were. Knowing something, anything, would have helped her prepare more, or at least given her an idea of what to expect. It put her on edge a bit and made her feel woefully inadequate for the situation at hand. At the same time though, it was kind of exciting. The thought of discovering what her new monster family would be like had kept Millie's imagination running wild over the past several months, and now she was finally about to get some answers. She couldn't wait to meet them, whoever and whatever they were.

"Man," Bellatrice mused as Millie carefully placed her card back in her backpack, "Monsters sure have weird names." She paused. "Then again, they probably think the same about us. Besides, what's really in a name, huh? I'm sure they're all real great folks, even if their names are a bit funny."

Millie didn't reply. She certainly hoped that would prove to be the case. That had been her biggest fear all along: her hosts not liking her. She didn't consider herself very good at changing people's perspectives of her, so if her monster hosts didn't like her from day one, she didn't know what she'd do. Well, besides crying, because there would definitely be plenty of that done behind closed doors. On top of that, the eyes of the entire world were watching her. If she and the rest of the participants couldn't prove that monsters and humans could live together in harmony, then it would spell disaster for all of monsterkind. Knowing that the weight of an entire civilization rested upon her shoulders was not a comforting feeling in the slightest. What if she let them down? How would she live with herself?

Millie rubbed her arms anxiously. There was no point in getting stressed out over the future, at least not yet. The fate of monsters and humans would be determined another day. For now, though, all she could do was sit and wonder a bit longer about the two names on her card.

Papyrus

Sans