Monster Campus: Volume 1
Plot: With the council's dissent in mind, you join up with Nick for a brief tour of the campus. Although you still have reservations about enrolling, maybe the encouragement of a few monster classmates will help you make your decision.
CWs: alcohol, brief mentions of throwing up, implied sexual content, monster-human discrimination
Prologue
WC: 5.7k
Nick had started his impromptu tour by introducing himself, as he was only the third or so monster you'd ever met period. Just as you guessed it he was a werewolf, and he had no reservations about showing you his teeth and offering to let you scratch him behind the ear. He was joking of course, but it lifted the tension a little bit since you'd been left alone with a monster you barely knew. He guided you down the path that wound alongside the campus’ front gates and into the area that opened up into what was obviously the sports complex. The place was split into the football field and diverted slightly into a smaller track for other sports, though with so few students on campus there weren't many onlookers to speak of.
“See that guy over there?” Nick pointed past you towards the running field, where the outline of a figure with four knobby-kneed legs trotted around the track. “That's Cyrus, our resident centaur. Pretty chill guy, honestly. Doesn't get along with people much though.”
“Is he practicing?” You tilted your head up to try and get a better look at him–maybe it was a bit rude to stare, but even in the monster world centaurs weren't at all common. This was a rare opportunity to see something you'd only ever read about in books.
“Mhm.” Nick nodded, and tugged on his own MC Football shirt. “He's captain of the track and field club. Of which he's…pretty much the only member.”
“Oh.” The boy's head turned while the two of you watched him, and although Nick offered a friendly wave, the centaur only chuffed quietly and picked up his pace to speed around the curve of the track.
“Yeah, he's a little awkward. Oh!” Nick pulled you along towards the gymnasium's outbuilding at the far end of the football field. His long legs ate up the distance that you struggled to keep up with, but he kept a hand on your arm just to make sure you didn't fall too far behind. “This here's where I train. Where we train–me and my pack.” Once again he gestured to his shirt, and in retrospect his buff figure and clear athleticism made sense as to what he did in his free time. It was a bit odd in a sense; not that he was on the football team, but the thought of something as mundane as sports teams on a campus filled with so many unique species.
“Hey! Jules, get over here!” A long-haired guy that nearly matched Nick's buff stature looked up from his phone, a gym bag slung over his shoulder with a similar logo as the one his packmate wore. At the sight of you he tucked the cell into his back pocket and strolled over, and the closer he got the taller he seemed until he was practically towering over you. And yet he still wasn't as tall as Nick was.
“Fresh meat?” The two boys clapped each other's hands in a brief shake without Jules ever taking his eyes off you, like he couldn't help but soak in all your features while he had the chance.
“Nah, new blood.” Nick grinned and jostled you with a thick hand gripping your shoulder. “A human. This is Julian, by the way.”
“You're not serious?” A nod from his friend spelled it all out clearly for him. Julian not only seemed taken aback but excited. The sparkle in his eyes was enough of a tell. “Damn. Welcome to MC, little thing–what's your name again?” When you offered it so sincerely he just seemed even more enamoured with you, as if you were so intriguing that anything you did was worthy of a closer look. The two of them stood and chatted for a bit longer before Julian had to take his leave for a meeting with their coach, and Nick steered you away from the gym building to start heading in the direction of the nearest courtyard.
A huge fountain sprouted up from the ground with plenty of space to sit along the rim, and he pointed out the general studies hall, library, and research lab buildings that lined each path leading outwards from it. The tour itself wasn't bad at all; Nick clearly knew how to maintain your attention with quick little details and brief stops to help you remember, and he was obviously well-liked by the amount of people that waved to him or said hi as you passed by. Plenty of them waved to you too and even stopped to introduce themselves to the new face. It was such a small campus that it seemed fairly close-knit for a university. And you couldn't help but feel…welcome. Strangely enough it felt like you fit in more here than you ever had in any human space you were a part of.
Finally Nick routed you back towards the entrance and pulled out his phone, talking and tapping away at the same time until you stopped under the archway and he handed it over to you.
“Here, put your number in. I live on campus, so if you need anything–or if you just wanna ask some questions–go for it. I'm here.” It was moreso enthusiasm than nerves that actually drove you to type out your contact number for him, because despite him seeming like he was a bit of a player as it was, Nick was so genuinely nice it was almost unsettling. If not for the other students you'd met so far you would think it was a ruse, but apparently the things you'd been taught about monster society while you were growing up were exaggerated quite a bit.
Once you were done and passed it back to him he put it away, but he wasn't about to bid you farewell yet. Well, he was, but your parting words were interrupted by the clop-clop-clop of hooves on pavement as the shadow of someone taller than both of you cast a quiet over your conversation. When you turned to look you spotted the freckled face of the centaur you'd seen earlier blocking out the sun. Cyrus chuffed, shifted his weight from one hoof to the other, and averted his eyes from you before he finally spoke.
“You're a human, aren't you?” His words were blunt and delivered without tact but they were certainly perceptive. You stuttered out a ‘yes’ which seemed to loosen whatever stress had strung out his taut muscles. “Figures.”
The silence returned with a vengeance. Nick and yourself exchanged glances, puzzled and curious about what exactly he'd come up to say, before Cyrus awkwardly cleared his throat.
“Join the track team.” The dark hairs of his long tail flicked in and out of view behind him as he awaited your answer. You just blinked like a deer caught in headlights.
“Wh-Wha-?”
“You have nice legs.” He continued as if that in itself wasn't a bizarre way to engage in conversation with a complete stranger. “I can teach you to run if you don't know how.”
“Hey, Cy. Our new friend here is just touring the campus for now. They haven't decided if they're enrolling or not.” Nick swooped in to save the dire conversation which you couldn't be more grateful for. Cyrus just hummed.
“Oh.” Perhaps out of anxiety he sniffed again, scrunching his nose like it was a habit while he tried to think of what to say next. “Well, enrol first. Then join the track team.”
“Um…o-okay. I'll think about it?” You didn't even sound sure of your own voice, but the centaur fortunately took it in stride.
“Sure. I don't have a phone–just meet me on the track if you want to join.” He pointed back in the direction of it as if it wasn't clearly visible already from where you stood, but you just nodded and offered him a small smile that he momentarily fixated on. “Have you gone riding before?”
“Alright, alright, enough of that.” Nick playfully brushed him off while Cyrus just shrugged, turning himself around to gallop back towards the track. The wolf led you away to make just a little more distance before finally stopping at the threshold of the campus. “Well, hopefully we didn't scare you off. I'm not gonna lie, I have no idea how a human fits into our school, but I think it'd be exciting to have you here.” He flashed a grin made up of pearly-white fangs and patted your back one last time. “What are you thinking? Sorry, can't say I'm not curious.”
What indeed? It wasn't far-fetched to say that you were considering all your options. You were definitely considering more than when you stepped foot on campus just an hour or two ago.
“I'll have to give it more thought. I'm, uh…there's a lot I need to keep in mind, so..”
“No worries. Like I said, we're excited to welcome you in. Can't imagine what you humans gotta deal with, so…just think it over. Call me.” With a wink, Nick finally dropped his hand from his lingering touches on your back and stepped away. When he started making his way back to the field you caught a glimpse of his phone in his hand, just for your own to buzz in your coat pocket.
> Hey human. This is Nick :)/
By the time you looked up from the screen, the werewolf was sending you a little wave in person too before the harpies from earlier flew over, feathers scattering as they chirped about him skipping out on cataloguing. They hustled him over to the piles of equipment still waiting to be sorted, and you found yourself smiling as you walked through the archway to catch the bus home on the corner. While you waited you sent off a quick text of your own.
> hi. thanks for the tour, I really appreciate it ^^
A few minutes later your notifications pinged again. It seemed as though he was more deft at avoiding the harpy's ire than one would expect.
> No sweat cutie. Just lemme know if you enrol and we'll celebrate :9
> Bet you'll be popular in no time
Although you highly doubted that was anything more than a cheeky compliment it made your heart flutter. As you stepped on to the bus that was crowded with both monsters and humans alike, you squished yourself into a window seat and watched through the glass as the campus slowly inched out of view and was replaced by the trimmed lawns and cut-and-pasted homes of the Pearl District.
Three days later you were sprawled out on your couch, bored, and scrolling mindlessly while the tv played in the background. You'd already flipped through a dozen channels and found nothing interesting to watch, but even as you clicked through your social media you couldn't help but notice the clear divide that didn't seem to be as obvious before now.
A couple of your friends had heard through the grapevine about the offer you'd gotten from MC, and although they'd made jokes and taken it lightheartedly at first, your lack of immediate detest for the very idea of attending a monster school had put them off. You'd already seen them making posts and subtweeting you with some rather unpleasant comments–your first reaction was to wonder what business it was of theirs, but that wasn't wholly surprising when the world you grew up in was certainly on the more conservative side. Human-only settlements tended to be that way, which made even more sense as to why your own family hadn't spoken to you since you admitted that you were considering taking up the offer. You hadn't even mentioned the part about your DNA because that certainly wouldn't go over well on a good day.
Bzzt! Bzzt! Your phone chimed as a few texts came in. Two of them you swiped away with a sigh–more of your supposed friends begging you to come to your senses–but the last one from your closest friend made you stop in your tracks and stare with a heavy heart at the words.
> Fine. You keep ignoring me so i guess you want to be a monster-fucker more than you want to be my friend.
> Don't talk to me ever again. Gods help your poor parents.
Just like that, years worth of friendship was gone. Even trying to text her back you could see you were already blocked. But as you laid there with your phone on your chest while staring up at the ceiling, it wasn't guilt that occupied your thoughts. It was the question that kept nagging at the back of your mind; why on earth was everyone you knew so obsessed with the idea of monsters? In particular, why were they so convinced they were a blight on mankind?
Sure, monster society had always been a topic up for debate, and more conservative politicians often made mention of monsters as if they were some sort of pest, if they mentioned them at all. But you couldn't fathom why it was such a bad thing in everyone else's eyes to just…be around them. Like they had some sort of disease. You'd never really thought about monsters too hard aside from the lessons and papers you occasionally wrote about them in school. You'd never even met one in person before stepping foot on the campus. So what was it about them that had everyone you knew keeping their distance from you, at just the thought of you mixing with them on their own turf?
Suddenly your phone buzzed again and you almost just threw it across the room so you wouldn't have to read more drivel from your loved ones. Your mother had already sent you paragraphs upon paragraphs of weepy nonsense when you refused to answer her calls–you just couldn't take her screaming in your ear more than you needed to. But a sense of relief flooded through you when you picked it up and saw Nick's name appear onscreen.
> Hey. You busy?
Your fingers moved before you could think about what to say, and when you answered the text it only took a few seconds for your phone to start ringing and for you to hold the receiver to your ear. Nick's smooth, warm voice filled your head and…well, it was much nicer than the cacophony of dissent you'd been hearing all week.
“So how's life, little human? Still thinking about joining up?” He chuckled on the other end and it honestly did soothe your stress, even if it was just a little bit.
“It's…fine. I dunno. I'm still trying to figure out what I want…I was waiting to hear back from the other university I applied to.”
“Oh? How'd it go?” You chewed your lip.
“Didn't get in.”
“Oh, honey, I'm sorry.” It took you off guard to hear him sound so genuine. You half-expected him to brush it off or make some joke about it being fate, but he didn't. “That really blows. Why the hell wouldn't they pick you? You're smart.”
“How do you know?” Thankfully he brought a chuckle out of you instead.
“Dean Drākon said so. He's been prepping us for your arrival in case you decide to attend–honestly, the guy can't speak any higher of you than he does. He sounds like a priest.” Despite the easy tone he said it with the admission had you sitting up straight on your sofa, feeling blindsided by the information.
“He what?”
“Yeah-” The soft pops and grunts of Nick stretching filled the other end of the line. “-We had a student council meeting an’ everything. He wanted to make sure we're all prepped to accommodate you.”
“Why would he do that?” You swallowed thickly around the lump in your throat. “Nobody needs to do that, n-not…for me.”
“Good luck telling him that.” He laughed. “Sorry, hope I didn't make you feel too guilty. Wouldn't want you to enrol if you don't want to. So no sweat, okay?”
I do.
You had no idea where that came from. You weren't sure what compelled you to say it out loud, or why it wouldn't just stay in your head where it belonged, but once it was out there was no taking it back. Because in reality, you meant it.
“I do…want to attend.” The quiet that followed made you feel as though he might just shut it off completely, and that maybe it really was just a joke after all that had gone a step too far. That only lasted for a few seconds though because soon enough, he was cheering.
“Really?!” It sounded like he'd jumped up from wherever he'd been sitting. If he was in werewolf form, you probably would've heard his tail smacking the ground in excitement. But he was definitely pumping his fist in the air at the very least. “Fuck yes. Are you for real?” You had to nod first, realize he couldn't actually see you, and then stammer out your answer as you adjusted to the feeling of it in your mouth. Nick started chattering away about a dozen or so things, what you'd have to bring for your first day and where to go to sign the papers–and what struck you most wasn't just his enthusiasm itself, but the fact that such an easygoing guy, a cool guy, didn't even try to hide his true feelings about your whole situation. He was so happy he couldn't contain it and he didn't make any attempts to laugh it off or maintain his effortlessly lax attitude. He just…was.
That sincerity stuck in your mind for such a long time afterwards. It stayed with you when you packed up your belongings, and you were reminded of it as you filed your paperwork with the naga secretary who couldn't help but ask you questions about yourself. Everyone you encountered through email, phone calls, and in person was just so kind, so friendly, it felt like you were living in a different world. It was a bit like walking through a dream when you showed up for moving day and seemingly everyone wanted to help you take your things up. A couple of orc students wouldn't budge until you let them gingerly carry your mattress and hefty bedframe up the stairs, and a group of harpy girls took turns flying to and from your window with the little boxes, while one of them hovered low to the ground to catch anything they might've dropped. Everything moved fast, but the sense of community–the air of belonging somewhere–was so strong from the first afternoon you spent on campus that you might've thought you'd been here all your life.
But after meeting your new roommates, placing the last box on your desk, and sitting back on your bed, it only set in then that you were up against something big. You were going to be the only human student in an absolute sea of monsters. What Nick had said after your tour rang in your ears; where did you fit in amongst monsterkind? Would you ever even be able to bridge the gap, or would you end up giving up and crawling back home? Flunking out was always a possibility too, but you just prayed it wouldn't come to that. While you sat in contemplation a knock at your door ripped you right out of it.
“Come in,” You called out without thinking only to spot the scruff of someone big, muscly, and hairy peeking through your bedroom door like he was too nervous to cross the threshold.
“Hey, buddy.” Priam's smile lit up his whole face with a glow when you looked over at him. “Nick's hosting drinks at his dorm. Wanna come?”
“I don't want to intrude..”
“You won't! He invited you. Said he owes you a celebratory shot.” He chuckled as he nudged your door open further and leaned in the doorway to your room. You had some worries about the roommate situation before you arrived even though Dean Lysandre assured you all would be well, but so far both Priam and Antón had been friendly and accommodating in equal measure. Sharing a living space with both a werewolf and a vampire still made you a bit hesitant, but being that they'd been roommates before it appeared at first glance that they at least had a sense of how to keep the peace. Though maybe that was more of a cat-and-dog type of situation than anything else. “So? Wanna come?”
“Uh..” You mulled it over briefly while fiddling with a thread on your hoodie. “...Yeah. Sure. I'll just have to grab cash-”
“Cash?” Priam straightened up and scoffed at the very idea. “What kinda parties do you go to? Is that a human thing?” Despite his bafflement at such a question you still dug around in the gym bag you'd brought to keep your essentials, your phone charger and deodorant tumbling out as you searched for your wallet. “Sorry, didn't mean to say it like that.”
Yet again you were faced with an apology you weren't sure how to take; quite a few monsters you'd met in passing would make those comments only to realize they might be insensitive, but it was just odd to you. You'd never been persecuted for being a human–not until very recently at the council–so it wasn't something you were insecure about or thought much of. You just waved off his apology in the hopes of moving past it.
“Well, I figure I should probably pitch in for drinks.” Finally you wrestled your wallet out from between two bundles of rolled-up clothes, but before you could thumb through it Priam stepped over, plucked it from your hands, and tossed it out of reach to land askew on your desk.
“What fun is that? C'mon, get ready and meet me in the kitchen in ten. We're getting drunk–for free!” He shut the door behind him as he bounded into the living room, where you could hear him and Antón get into another friendly squabble as the wolf tried to convince his friend to come. In the end he'd remain firm on staying home to get ready for classes on Monday, but for you?
You couldn't think of a better reason to drink all your worries away. It only took about five minutes for you to strip off your sweater and put something a little more enticing on, something you wouldn't mind spilling booze on, and with a minute or two to fix your hair and ready yourself for carnage you were out the door. As Priam led you outside and headed towards Dorm B, a tickle of something akin to excitement started to brew in place of the butterflies flitting around your stomach.
By the time you arrived with Priam leading the charge, the dorm was full of people crowding in and passing drinks around. And Nick, as put-together and chill as he was for the other 99% of the day, was already blasted out of mind.
“Hu-man! Hu-man!” He cheered uproariously as his massive form cut through the crowd only to nearly deck you as he came in for a hug, which just about squeezed all the air out of your lungs completely from the weight of his biceps clamping around you. Despite his excitement, thankfully not many monsters around actually glanced over at you to stare at the new human student. The last thing you wanted right now was more attention.
“Wow, dude.” Priam couldn't help but laugh at his packmate as he quite literally stumbled around, barely able to keep himself upright from the ungodly concoctions he'd poured down his throat. “Did that centipede kid give you something, or what?”
“I'm fuckin’ high on fuckin’ life, man!” A hand appeared from within the crowd just to pass another cup to the staggering werewolf, who tipped his head and downed it without a second thought about what it might be. He just shook his head like a dog drying off and coughed at the burn, before crumpling the plastic and letting out a howl as he tossed it like it was a mini football. To say you felt out of place with such an energy in the room was definitely an understatement. There wasn't much room for you to argue though, as you were dragged by the arm into the throng of monsters until you were pulled through the open doorway of one of the bedrooms. Waiting inside was Julian sitting back in a leather armchair, along with two guys leaning against the desk and two girls chatting on the bed, all of whom you didn't recognize. Unlike the crowd outside, each pair of eyes zeroed in on you the second you walked in.
“These guys–you'll love these guys,” Nick slurred over your shoulder as he pointed each of them out, but it was Julian who stood up and offered you his chair before he perched on the arm next to you and gave you a proper introduction. When you glanced back, Nick had already disappeared into the crowd–you guessed to either get more drinks or throw up, both options were equally possible.
“Hey, doll. You remember me, right?” He seemed so titillated at the shy nodding of your head. It was so unbearably meek for where you were. He managed to keep himself composed though, and gestured to the other monsters filling up the small room. “Well, these guys are part of our pack. The big guy is Athos, and that's Elliott beside him.” The ones he was referring to were certainly standouts in your mind; for one they were huge, and while the brunette was soft-cheeked and illegally cute for someone so imposing, his companion was the dark-haired dreamy type that wouldn't be out of place in a teenager's fanfiction. The smaller of the two smiled and held out his hand to shake yours, while the taller wolf with all the piercings just waved and sipped from his drink. Meanwhile you could feel the stares burning holes in your head from the opposite side of the cramped dorm room, though the girls put on faux-innocent faces when you turned to look at them. Upon closer inspection you could tell the one on the left was some sort of aquatic hybrid, what with her semi-translucent skin and wiggly tentacles dangling from the jelly cap encircling her head. The one on the right though, she seemed more on the demonic side with the horns and the aura of warmth radiating out of her like a miniature sun.
“Now, I know they may look scary-” Julian laughed as the girl with the tentacles snapped one of them at him and barely missed stinging his arm. “-but I promise they'll be nice to you. This is Jelly,” He gestured to the blue-skinned girl's cap, which made a lot more sense when you thought about it–she was about as jellyfish-looking as it got. “And the one who looks like she just got back from the Underworld is Lidya.”
“Bite me, wolfie.” As sharp as her tongue was, she certainly fit the bill. The studded piercings, the satanic jewelry, the gothic clothes that sported rips and holes and spikes–the two girls made quite the interesting combination sitting side by side. Even so, Lidya leaned forward and gently offered you the cup she'd been sipping from, still stained around the rim with smudges of her dark lipstick. “Here. These guys are easier to chum with when you're smashed.”
“Ooh!” Jelly chimed in with a giggle as she tilted her own cup into Lidya's and sloshed in her clear and bubbly drink into the reddish, half-finished cocktail. “Give that a try. It probably tastes like ass, but it'll fuck you up.”
“Do I want to get fucked up?” You wondered aloud. The girls just shrugged until the cup was in your hand and you nervously dared to give it a sip. It wasn't…bad.
The afterburn made you choke on your own spit though, and while the guys chuckled Lidya and Jelly both rubbed your arms and cooed over you like a little gagging kitten.
“Fuck, that's–vile,” You coughed out before the succubus took back the cup with a smile and swallowed a mouthful of it herself. Her dark lips puckered somewhat but she barely made a face, just passed it to Jelly and snorted when she gagged on the first swig.
“Oh, that sucks. What the hell were you drinking, Lid?”
“Cranberry vodka.” Her smirk widened. “And everclear.”
“Serial killer behaviour.” The jellyfish girl handed the cup like a bomb to the first of the guys to take it, and when Athos came back after ridding yourselves of the poison he had two new drinks in hand; you just picked the fruity-looking one of what he offered and sighed in relief at the taste of normal, not-scorching-your-tonsils alcohol. Fortunately the students around you already had much to chat about amongst themselves, and although they included you here and there you enjoyed yourself just sitting and listening to them talk. For once it felt nice not to have to engage in conversation, you could just sit back and get to know your fellow classmates without having to answer or ask a million questions. The monsters you'd met were nice, but so many of them had endless curiosity about humanity and most of it you just weren't equipped to explain. It was endearing all the same though.
After a while, what sounded like an orc grunting from the room next door put a heat on your cheeks the instant you heard it, which only grew hotter at the accompanying bangs of a headboard hitting the wall repeatedly. Someone, you couldn't put your finger on who exactly, let out a string of muffled moans in concert and your mind blanked completely when you swore you heard a hand clamp over their mouth, followed by much quieter, softer noises. The others didn't seem to notice or pay much attention to it, at least not until Elliott caught your wide-eyed gaze and shuffled to stand closer to your seat.
“So, have you spent much time with monsters before?” He tilted his head, barely holding back his knowing smile. It was probably obvious before you even shook your head. “Yeah. You'll get used to it. We're a pretty open society.” Finally he gestured to the wall behind the girls where the noises were emanating from. “You'll have to forgive us for that, though. Humans are pretty reserved about sex, from what I hear?”
As blunt as the question was you were kind of expecting it. So much of what you'd read up on about monsterkind before arriving on campus had included topics of sexuality. From what you'd learned, monsters had a remarkably open view on sex and sexual exploration–while there were plenty of purely monogamous monsters, polyamory was very commonplace and most monsters were free-thinkers when it came to experimenting, so hookups and casual liaisons took place all the time and suffered very little social prejudice. Unlike humans, monsters used sex as a tool to explore the world and get to know people, strangers and friends alike, without the expectation of romance. Yet despite what humans might and did think about such a sex-oriented society, you yourself were surprised to hear how low the rate of sexual violence and sex crimes were in monster communities. It was such an interesting topic that you wished to ask more about from the people that lived it, but even when Elliott brought it up organically you couldn't figure out how to word it.
“I-I guess you could say that, yeah.” There wasn't much else to say, but when the conversation between you stalled you ended up blabbing more just to fill the silence. “It doesn't bother me, though.”
“No?” Elliott's lips twitched like he wanted to say more, but reconsidered it at the last second. “You sure? We can be a bit…much.” You chased your last bit of courage at the bottom of your cup and let the fuzzy haze over your mind speak for itself.
“No. I'm not a prude.” The werewolf's laugh took you by surprise but it was a welcome one, most certainly. He squeezed your shoulder with a familiar grip that teased of more, which you might consider entertaining further down the line. For now, there was one thing on the brain. “Where's the bathroom?”
“I'll take you.” Athos, who had remained intimidating and quiet up until now, suddenly straightened up and set his cup down on the desk behind him. He held his hand behind his back for you to take–gods, was it ever warm–and led you through a winding path between the bodies jostling each other elsewhere in the dorm, dancing and talking over the music that thudded like your own heartbeat in your ears. The werewolf brought you all the way to the opposite side of the apartment from the bedroom you'd been sitting in, and peeked through the door first to check before holding it open for you and letting you inside. With a soft click of the lock you were pitched into a less stimulating, muffled quiet.
The bathroom itself wasn't really what you wanted, rather it was the momentary peace you'd been searching for since your life had been upended. To think that earlier this week your world had been normal, sane, and you'd been planning your life out just as your friends and family and you always thought it would be. Although the rejections and criticism from all of them was hard, you couldn't muster up the strength to properly mourn the loss of your old life. Maybe the answer to why that was would come to you with time, but for now you were oddly comfortable. It felt safe.
But this was only the first day of your time on campus, and there was plenty more you had left to learn from monsterkind over the next few years you'd spend here. It wouldn't be a far stretch to say you'd probably be an entirely different person by the time it was all over–you might turn into someone you barely recognized anymore.
