Chapter Text
Wake up.
Stare at phone.
Make breakfast.
Eat.
Smoke a cigarette.
Go to class.
That’s her routine. Beatrix. Or, as her friends call her, Bea.
She’s a college student, about to go through her next year of college, but honestly, with the ways her grades are, she may as well drop out.
She’s outstanding at robotics, but god, she sucks at everything else. She was kinda good at math, she sucked at physics, and that stupid culinary class she made the mistake of joining. She was good at cooking, but the cooking these people were teaching was all fancy and junk, and Bea was too lazy to go remove the class from her schedule.
At the moment, Bea was headed to class. Today was her last day at the college before summer. She’d go back for another year and then graduate. Man, Bea couldn’t wait to get outta this damn college. She’d thought it would be better than she expected, but somehow it was worse.
Bea walked into her robotics class for the last period, excited. This class was the only class Bea enjoyed. The teacher went to the front of the room, announcing what project they’d be working on for the rest of the year. A robotic suit with blinking eyes, working limbs, and a simple design. Not exactly an animatronic, but like a suit with extra modifications. Bea couldn’t wait to get her supplies and begin working on it, she was always the first to go up there and grab all the supplies she needed. She already had a design in mind.
She got to work pretty quick, coding the eyes, facial expressions (that part was extra) and basic mouth movements that would open and close when she talked. Of course, it’d probably be a bit faulty if it were just sound-based entirely, because people could be talking and the mouth would open. So, Bea programmed it to have voice recognition and would wire a microphone to the inside of the head later on, just in case.
Now that she was done with coding, she could design the entire suit.
Late into the night, Bea worked, a cigarette hanging from her lips. The tossed another crumbled up paper ball into a cafeteria trash can she stole from her old high school, which was catching all the paper, aside from some stray ones she had tossed without looking. She was stumped. Usually, she has a great idea for stuff like this, being a bit of an artist. But she was stuck. Art block, you could imagine.
Bea sighed and leaned back, running a hand through her curly golden brown hair, which was tied back in a ponytail. She adjusted her glasses and sat back up, staring at a rough sketch. She hated every human-like design she came up with, and didn’t have any other ideas for what to make the suit. Madness.
“So fucking stupid..”
Bea grumbled, taking a glance at the clock on her desktop. 2:36am. She needed to get some damn sleep. Bea let out a groan and stood up, getting ready for bed.
Though, halfway through getting her night shirt on, something off happened.
Her door creaked.
Bea glanced over at the door, seeing it askew. She rolled her eyes and opened the door all the way to check for anyone in the house.
She saw the inside of a factory on the other side.
Bea stood there, still as can be. This isn’t the other side of her damn door. She shut the door, then opened it again. Now it was her regular hallway. She opened and closed the door several times before giving up on trying to let that factory appear again. She must be really tired. No way a factory could be on the other side of her door.
Bea went to sleep, having to wake up four hours later to get to class.
But the weird factory stayed in the back of her mind.
Bea got through her day, finally coming to robotics and putting finishing touches on the code, just to give her mind a break from trying to design the damn suit.
She finally had to try and design, attempting to sketch something out again. But of course, art block was still plaguing her. She attempted smoking a cigarette to calm herself. She tried several times to make a design, but several times, she didn’t get a good picture. Humans? No. Too basic. Bea thought of a fursuit, but then remembered she wasn’t a furry. She wracked her brain, trying to think of any other possible thing she could use.
She went home to her dorm, hoping to use the free time she has. Tomorrow, she doesn’t have any classes, so she’d have time to speculate. Maybe she could ask for advice from her friends: Clara and Fred.
…But then again, they always have some weird ideas. The weirdness might give Bea inspiration, but who knows.
Bea plopped down at her desk, sketching random shapes in case she got ideas. In the midst of her sketching, she heard a creak.
She turns her head, staring at her doors. Partially open again.
Hm.
Bea stands up, opening the door all the way. The same factory from the other night. This time, Bea was gonna explore.
She kept the door open, walking off to grab a hoodie, a bag of snacks, and a medkit. She wasn’t about to bleed out in some factory she discovered.
Bea walked up to the door, taking a deep breath, then walking through. The factory was bland, of course, and had weird machinery. She blinks, then turns her head to the left. Doors. She turns her head to the right. Doors. Along the line, all the way across, there were doors. All of them looked different, each door unique. Bea steps out, looking at her own door. She then walks back inside, grabbing a sharpie, then walking back out. She shuts the door, marking it with a drawing of a bee with the initial ‘B’.
Bea then puts the sharpie away, then walks off, beginning to look around. She pulls her hood up, just in case there were cameras. She walks through the place, looking around. The factory had possibly hundreds— thousands of doors! Many looked like children’s doors.
Bea looked around, headed toward a large metal door. It was open. Bea walked through, glancing all over the place to see what was happening. She makes it out of the factory and walks across a field. Soon, she slips through the bars of a fence to make it into another area. Looked like some alleyway. She turns a corner, but freezes as she sees what was awaiting.
A couple of monsters, one tall, one short. The tall one was covered in blue fur, having purple polka dots and a pair of horns. The short one was completely green with no fur, also having horns, though small ones. He had a freakishly big mouth and a freaky singular eye. They seemed to be bickering about.. I dunno, something. Bea gulped, then attempted to make her way past the two. Thankfully, the two main character lookin’ ass monsters didn’t notice her slinking on by. Damn. The tall one made her feel small, and Bea was six foot! And the little green guy was freaking half her height. She almost felt sorry for that dude.
Bea walks through the area, soon coming to another door and pushing through it. She was met by a loudness that only compared to her college. Inside this huge building, which said ‘Monsters University’, there were hundreds, maybe thousands of monsters big, small, and straight up weird. Bea walks through, her head down. She didn’t get any weird looks. No snarky remarks. Just monsters minding their own business. She quickly found a quiet spot and popped out a cigarette.
This was way too stressful. Monsters? A factory? This weird University? Doors leading to this world? What the hell is happening?! Bea lights the cigarette, taking a drag. Her nerves calmed a bit, exhaling smoke without a care. She was so used to being able to smoke in her college, she didn’t see the sign that said ‘No SMOKING!’ Next to her. Suddenly, a monster walks up to Bea, clearing her throat. Bea glances up, only to be faced with this TERRIFYING looking monster with DRAGON WINGS, and fucking CENTIPEDE LEGS. She was dressed in a velvet red suit, her skin crimson.
She doesn’t say anything. She simply takes the cigarette, drops it on the ground, then crushes it with one of her pointy ass legs.
The woman walks away, hands behind her back. Bea dares a soft scoff, grumbling about a ‘good cigarette wasted’ before leaning back against the wall.
Bea grumbles to herself, glaring at the ‘No SMOKING!’ Sign and even flipping it off.
“You got a cigarette stomped too, huh?”
A male voice comes from next to Bea, causing her to look over, making sure to tug the hood over her head a bit more. There stood a large purple monster, around the same height as the blue furred monster she saw earlier. This guy had huge horns, large teeth, and a red and yellow jersey that had ‘RΩR’ on it. Bea blinked, then cleared her throat.
“Uh.. yeah.”
The monster didn’t seem to notice anything strange about Bea, simply nodding with her.
“I feel you. Wanna go smoke elsewhere? I know a spot.”
The monster offers, causing Bea to raise her eyebrows high. She knew popular. She knew what it looked like. And this guy? He looked popular. Kinda cocky too. ‘Okay Bea.. act natural.’ She told herself in her head.
“Dude, I don’t even know you.”
She tried to act nonchalant. The monster raised his eyebrows, looking at Bea slowly.
“You don’t know who I am?! I’m Johnny freaking Worthington the THIRD! How the hell do ya not know who I am?!”
Bea blinks. A popular guy alright. Entitled. Expects to be the best automatically. Honestly a dickhead. Well, that part was.. to be decided. He DID offer to smoke with Bea.
Bea sighs.
“I’m not from around here. Just moved from uh.. the next continent over.”
Johnny raises an eyebrow.
“Really? You don’t sound it.”
He said, poking Bea’s forehead. Bea swats his claw away.
“Watch it!!”
She growls, then huffs.
“Show me that place or whatever, the noise is killin’ me.”
She grumbles, causing Johnny to roll his eyes and walk off.
“Alright. C’mon.”
He mumbles something about ‘rookies’ and ‘mean bitch’ under his breath, but for some reason, keeps up a front that suggests he’s unbothered by anything. God, Bea always hates that. When people act like they’re tough, nonchalant shit but they ain’t.
Johnny takes Bea to a large classroom, one of which smelt heavily of cigarettes. Johnny plops down on one of the many chairs before pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Bea glances around, then sits down, lighting a cigarette and smoking it.
“Why’s it smell like cigarettes? This some smoke spot?”
Bea asks, her hood still over her head. Johnny shrugs.
“Sorta. The professor also smokes though, that’s why no one ever suspects that anyone smokes in here but him.”
He opens the pack, then curses softly. Bea glances over. His pack was empty. Johnny grumbles, putting his pack away. He was suddenly poked. He glances over and sees that Bea was handing him a cigarette from her pack. He takes it and puts it to his lips.
“Huh. Thanks.”
Bea mumbles a ‘you’re welcome’ in response, taking a drag of her cigarette and blowing out a large cloud of smoke. Johnny lights his and blows out a large cloud as well. The two sit there and smoke for a good couple of minutes, until Johnny decides to ask a question.
“So. What’s with the hood?”
He asks, turning his torso and head to look at Bea. She tenses.
“No reason.”
Bea responds. Johnny huffs.
“You ain’t a school shooter or whatever, right?”
Bea laughs, the sound sorta like a cackle. For some odd reason, it send a shiver up Johnny’s spine.
“As if! Man, I don’t even own a gun. I prefer archery myself.”
Bea says, her voice finally above a grumble, mumble or huff. It was weird, hearing her voice like this. Of course, Johnny hadn’t known her for a long time, but still. This whole time, she’s talked lowly.
“Jeez, you have a creepy laugh. You’d make a good scarer.”
Johnny remarks, grinning. Bea blinks. Scarer?
“The hell are you talking about? You saying I’m a scary person or…?”
She said, raising an eyebrow. That made Johnny furrow his eyebrows.
“Don’t you know about the scaring program?”
“…No.”
“Where the hell did you live??”
Bea leans back, making gestures with her hands.
“Dude. I literally have no idea what your talking about- I just GOT HERE, dude-“
In the process of leaning back, Bea’s hood falls off her head, causing Johnny to see that Bea was a human. Johnny’s eyes widen as possibly wide as they could. He hadn’t seen a human before, at least, not in person. He’d just smoked a human cigarette. He’d just sat here with a human for thirty minutes. This was crazy!!
Bea was rambling about her situation, unaware of Johnny’s internal panic. Bea runs a hand through her hair, then pauses. She feels that the hood is off. She had no idea what would happen if this monster saw her like this. Did monsters eat humans? Did the monsters kill them on sight? But no. Johnny didn’t do any of that. He simply screeched shrill, like a little girl.
“OH MY GOD!!!!!”