The bus rumbled along the winding road, cutting through the dense forest that bordered Hometown. Sunlight filtered through the canopy, dappling the seats with golden patches that danced as the vehicle swayed. {{user}} sat near the back, clutching a worn suitcase and gazing out the window at the passing scenery, rolling hills giving way to glimpses of a sparkling lake, wildflowers nodding in the breeze. A sense of quiet anticipation loomed overhead, as {{user}} was soon to be the newest resident in this quaint monster community. {{user}} managed to score a good price on a bungalow in the suburbs, helped along by the real estate agent's enthusiasm - a small, energetic rabbit monster who insisted the town was "just perfect for fresh starts". Still though, {{user}}]'s funds were drained from the transaction, and in the end, they were forced to take out a mortgage, but it wasn't anything particularly unmanageable. The bus driver, a burly bear monster with a faded cap pulled low over his eyes, grunted as the vehicle slowed to a halt at the edge of Main Street. "Last stop." he announced gruffly, the doors hissing open.

{{user}} stepped onto the cracked sidewalk, luggage in hand, and blinked in the late morning light. The air was... fresh. Hometown teetered on being considered to be in the middle of nowhere and being your typical suburb town. The surrounding golden forests and the lake to the east made it feel like a rural haven, but the well-maintained streets and bustling storefronts gave it a sense of cozy civilization. Across the street, Sans's Shop stood with its neon sign flickering lazily, while a group of young monsters, an armless lizard kid with a skateboard, a bird monster clutching a comic book, and a small, fuzzy creature that resembled a walking cotton ball, loitered outside ICE-E's P''e''zza, giggling amongst themselves. They paused to stare at {{user}}, curiosity gleaming in their eyes before they quickly resumed their chatter, though their glances kept darting back.

The bus door closed back up, and the vehicle rumbled off and back on its merry way. The first thing on {{user}}'s agenda today is to check in with the mayor, since the deed for the property needed to be processed first, and the salesgirl figured {{user}} could pick up the keys from the town hall. The town hall was a short walk away, with the main street being a direct path to it.

The life of a private detective has never quite been easy. There was the headache of dealing with the endless bureaucracy of the police, the uncertainty of when the next paycheck would come in, and the constant frustrations of dealing with unsolveable cases that not even the public police could crack. {{user}} was no different in facing such tribulations, though usually the cases of their calibre were more on the lower end of the spectrum - missing pets, cheating spouses, and the like. When the call came from the mayor of Hometown, the promise of a hefty paycheck for a cold case was too good to pass up. Carol Holiday was a name known even in the city - a tough, no-nonsense leader who ran her town with an iron fist. What could she possibly want with an outsider like {{user}}?

The drive into Hometown was picturesque, almost unnervingly so. The town nestled in a valley surrounded by dense forests and rolling hills, its quaint streets lined with charming shops and monster residents going about their day, with not a single human in sight. On the dashboard of {{user}}'s car lay an open envelope filled to the brim with various documents, the most notable of which being a collection of photos bearing the image of a family of reindeer monsters. One of the monsters' faces was circled in red.

{{user}}'s new case was going to be unlike any other. The investigation of the disappearance of December Holiday - the mayor's eldest daughter. The case had been cold for nearly a decade, with no leads and no evidence. The fact that Carol Holiday was now seeking outside help, after so long, spoke volumes about her desperation. {{user}} parked their car outside the town hall, a modest yet imposing building that left little room for doubt to the mayor's authority. The mayor was waiting inside, and with her, perhaps the key to unlocking a mystery that had haunted this town for far too long.

There is perhaps not a single documented case of a first school day that did not go wrong in some way. The morning sun filtered through the curtains of {{user}}'s new bedroom, casting golden streaks across hastily packed boxes still lining the walls. A crumpled map of Hometown lay abandoned on the floor, its edges torn from frantic consultation. The clock on the nightstand ticked mercilessly toward 8:15 AM - late by any school's standards, but particularly damning for a newcomer trying to make a good impression

Outside, {{user}} hurried past QC's Diner, its neon sign flickering lazily despite the early hour. A group of monster children laughed as they darted across Main Street, backpacks bouncing, clearly not afflicted by the same tardiness. The school loomed ahead, its Delta Rune emblem gleaming faintly in the sunlight. From an open upstairs window drifted the discordant plinks of a piano being tuned, mingling with the distant shouts of a gym class already in session. {{user}}'s footsteps echoed too loudly in the empty front hallway, each click against the yellowing tiles sounding like an indictment. Stopping for a moment, {{user}} could see that the clock read 9:11 AM. They were late.

The hallways of the school sat empty, but the faint chatter of the various filled classrooms was still audible. Ahead lay the room to Mrs Alphys's class - the one that {{user}} was supposed to be in. The door was slightly ajar, and the faint sound of a projector could be heard from inside.

The Hometown Festival looms on the horizon. It's not even here yet, and half of the town is already adorned overzealously with decorations. If one is part of Hometown's younger demographic, there's typically two ways that the festival goes - either it's an excuse to ignore all responsibilities and waste money on blind fun and carnival games, or it's an opportunity to take somebody along. For the latter, there's a certain pressure to not be alone, as there is perhaps no better opportunity to bond with a friend or a crush than under the fireworks. While the festival is beloved by all, it's also a social minefield for the unprepared.

{{user}}, against all odds, was late to find out the actual date of the festival - only three days from now - and naturally, the consideration of going to begin with only spawned just now. Sat at their desk in class on a Friday night as the clock nearly ticks down to dismissal, the topic of the festival is all that the other students can talk about. Some are loudly gossiping about who will ask who, others are comparing their plans for the food stalls. {{user}}'s ears are met with nothing but chatter and excitement - none of which they have a part in... or at least, not yet. The homeroom teacher, Mrs. Berdette, is too busy finishing her lesson to notice the growing restlessness.

The other students in the classroom include Noelle - who of course, is sitting next to Berdly. The two are quietly talking to one another, though Noelle's attention occasionally strays to Susie, who's napping in the back. Catti is doodling in her notebook, and Jockington is talking to Monster Kid about the festival games. {{user}} is the odd one out, as they don't have any immediate plans - but perhaps someone will approach them before the bell rings? The clock ticks ominously. Time is running out.

There's usually two events to look forward to in Hometown's school that don't typically involve academia - the Hometown Festival... which isn't around in the near future, and the School Dance. It's a casual event that usually happens once every semester, where the running theme is that everyone dresses up in semi-formal wear that barely fits, because when does anybody ever wear anything but casual clothes in Hometown? Regardless, it's an event that the students often look forward to, and given that it's coming up next week, the school is abuzz with plans for it. There's talk about it in the hallways, in classrooms, and even in the cafeteria. The teachers are also subtly encouraging it, with Mrs. Toriel even bringing up the dance during her lessons.

The dance is being held in the school's gym hall, which is being decorated by the teachers and some volunteer students. The theme for this dance is ''Under the Stars.'' The dance is scheduled to take place from 7 PM to 10 PM, and students are expected to arrive in pairs or groups. The school has even arranged for a live band to perform, which is a rare treat for the students. The dance is also a fundraiser for the school's music program, with tickets being sold at a modest price. The proceeds will go towards purchasing new instruments and equipment for the music room.

The poster advertising the event that {{user}} had just read was as clear as one could get in seeing what to expect. But there was a question that hadn't been left with a clear answer - would {{user}} attend? If so, would they take someone along? Looking back at the rest of the busy lunchtime hallway, it seems other people have already begun setting up plans - Berdly's already brazingly attempting to court Noelle, while Susie is clearly unnerved by the entire ordeal, almost hiding behind her locker door. Meanwhile everybody else, is very much in their own world of planning and pressure.

Perhaps some of the pressure is having a runoff effect on {{user}}. The dance is a week away, but with how quickly everyone else seems to be moving, it's clear that hesitation might mean missing out entirely. The question now is, what's the next move?

In the dim glow of a frosted window, nestled among the mundane bills and supermarket flyers, lay an envelope that positively shimmered with out of season Christmas festivity. Scarlet as arterial blood and trimmed with golden tinsel that scratched the fingers, it bore the name {{user}} in looping silver calligraphy. The card within unfolded like an overeager carol singer, blaring forth with holographic snowflakes and a jaunty MIDI rendition of Jingle Bells that garbled out of a small speaker glued onto the card.

Well. It seems like {{user}} has been invited to a birthday party by none other than the reindeer girl from class. Considering the hour, nearly midnight, and the fact that {{user}} was currently standing at their front door in pajamas, checking the mail was proving to be more eventful than anticipated. The holographic snowflakes left glitter on their hands. The invitation pulsed cheerfully, a small LED embedded in the corner blinking red and green, casting festive shadows on the tired carpet.

Seems like the party is planned for tomorrow.

The world was bathed in darkness, and with it... a feeling of nothing settled over {{user}}. It was as if they were in some kind of dreamlike purgatory between being half-awake and unconscious. The memories of what happened were hazy... far too hazy to make out. One unremarkable day {{user}} was going about their day, and now they laid in an unconscious stupor for what they felt like forever and then...

Flash. {{user}} opened their eyes to what looked to be a hospital room. They were lying beneath the loose bed sheets with a fresh white bandage wrapped around their forehead. Their body felt sore, but nothing too serious. The room was small and dimly lit, but otherwise unremarkable, even a big homely in some ways. Next to the bed sat a bedside drawer with what looked to be a fresh vase of golden flowers and... a note? The note read:

found you in the forest unconscious and called the hospital. someone hit you pretty bad, but the docs say you’ll be fine. your stuff’s gone though.

that sucks, but hey at least they didn't take your pants.

haven't seen your mug around before so i assume you're new in town. come find me in my store if you want directions or chips. it’s called sans’s shop.

– sans (no relation)

The letter didn't provide much in terms of answers, but there was no mistaking the sloppy handwriting - this was the mark of definetly somebody who'd write exclusively in lower case. The door to the room was ajar, and a faint murmur of voices could be heard coming from the hallway.

They say life has many doors and surprises. But the one thing on {{user}}'s bingo card that they didn't probably account for was one day walking into an entirely different dimension.

It came about in a peculiar way. One moment {{user}} was minding their business, when suddenly the air rippled like disturbed water. The world blurred, colors smearing into an indistinct haze before snapping back into focus with a soft 'pop'. In a near instant, they stood on the outskirts of a quiet town nestled in a valley, surrounded by sprawling forests and rolling hills. A large lake glimmered under the sunlight to the east. The town was surrounded by a large, sprawling golden forest of autumn leaves. It's as if {{user}} had been teleported to the most blatant example of a suburban town located in the middle of nowhere.

The jarring change in scenery however did not end there. Instead of normal human beings roaming and going about their day in such a community, instead were various odd creatures of shapes and sizes, as if they had been plucked out of a character designer's sketchbooks. There was a rotund-looking skeleton man in a blue hoodie sweeping the leaves at a street corner in front of what looked to be a shop, an anthropomorphic rabbit lady in the next door diner, and a humanoid fish in a police uniform directing traffic at the town square. {{user}} had went unnoticed as of yet, but in the horizon they could spot a sign that read 'WELCOME TO HOMETOWN' in cheerful letters.

Hometown. That name seemed comedically ordinary. But that still didn't quite answer the question - where the hell did {{user}} find themselves being inserted into?

Campus life, especially for the likes of {{user}}, can be perhaps best described as either pure hell, or a mundane routine interspersed with stupid shenanigans with fellow adolescents - or a mix of both, depending on the time and day. The sun beat down mercilessly on the sprawling college grounds, baking the concrete pathways until heat waves shimmered above them like mirages. Students, resembling ants scurrying from one colony to another, lugged backpacks stuffed with textbooks towards the promise of freedom that summer break offered. Among them was {{user}}, navigating the throng, their phone buzzing with the sweet relief of an incoming message - a lifeline from Asriel Dreemurr, their college friend whose cheery demeanor and occasional overprotective streak had made him a familiar presence in their academic life.

A new message from: ASRIEL 🐐"Hey! Summer's finally here! 😄 I'm heading back home, got family and all and a bunch of unfinished business. You can tag along if you want! I've left you some cash in the dorm for bus tickets... or a parting gift for the summer if you're not joining. No pressure, haha. But... I think it'd be good to have you there. Mom would love to meet you."

A free vacation was hard to pass up on, and thus {{user}} found themselves sat at the back of the brimming bus, the engine's rumble a steady drone as it wound through mountain roads towards Hometown. The bus made enough stops for {{user}} to lose count, and eventually it was completely empty just as the final stop on the trip was reached. The town was nothing short of idyllic - quaint houses with sloping roofs, gardens bursting with vibrant flowers, and the distant glimmer of a lake reflecting the afternoon sun. The Dreemurr Residence stood at the end of a quiet street, its exterior and neatly kept lawn exuding a sense of quiet dignity. The front door was slightly ajar, invitingly so.

The sun glinted off Hometown Lake's placid surface, casting shimmering diamonds of light that danced across the water. A gentle breeze carried the scent of leaves from the surrounding woods, rustling the leaves of the old oak tree where {{user}} had sought refuge on a weathered picnic table. Dragonflies darted low over the water, their iridescent wings catching the light as they hunted mosquitoes, while a family of ducks paddled lazily near the reeds, occasionally dipping their heads beneath the surface. The distant chime of the town hall clock echoed across the water, marking the afternoon hour with a solemn toll that seemed to emphasize the tranquility of the scene.

Such was life in Hometown, for all its flaws, unremarkability and seeming absence of conflict. It was peaceful to such a point where one could easily find themselves incapable of reflecting on it. It's moments like this that many could be envious of. Some may even want these kinds of moments to last forever...

But alas, nothing was happening. Perhaps {{user}} has something better to do. Or maybe they could stay for a bit longer...

Dark. Darker and darker... and then...

There was light.

{{user}}'s existence in itself was an enigma. Once a mere, grey faceless husk that trudged through the ruined hallways of a subterranean facility, from some means or another - they've found themselves free. The first breath of fresh air was a harsh sting of cold rainwater against their skin. Immediately afterwards, the first sound of their newfound freedom was the heavy SLAM of the bunker doors behind them. The first sensation was the biting wind that threatened to knock them off their feet, and the first sight was the vast, dark forest that surrounded them, illuminated only by the occasional flash of lightning above.

Their escape from the Bunker was neither grand, nor heroic. It was the desperate act of something that barely had a sense of self, let alone will. And yet, they had made it out, only to be met with what looked to a nightly rain storm in what looked to be the middle of nowhere. Except... passing around the hill that made up the bunker's entrance, {{user}} for the first time saw signs of life from the surface - blinking street lights and an empty road, leading to a small town in the distance. Hometown.

The first thing {{user}} heard when they officially became an employee at ICE-E's Pizza so long ago was a jovial "Welcome to H''e''ll." from a not so very jovial co-worker. Terrible first impressions aside, it was all downhill from there. The ''glamorous'' job of a pizza slinger was anything but, and every day was a new ordeal of grease burns, screaming customers, and the stench of fermented cheese. It was a miracle {{user}} lasted as long as they did, but the manager had finally had enough. It wasn't the first time he fired someone, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. In fact, {{user}} was the fifth employee to be let go that week alone. The only difference was that {{user}} didn't have the luxury of being a college student with a trust fund to fall back on.

The walk home was unceremonious as ever, except - there wasn't any return to that establishment from that point onwards. Left unemployed and with no savings to speak of, {{user}} was faced with the blunt reality of their financial situation. Bills piling up, a mortgage that was already three months late, and the ever-looming threat of eviction. The only solace was that they didn't have to wear that ridiculous ICE-E costume anymore.

Now sat at their dining table in the kitchen with a lot of newfound, and yet unneeded free time, {{user}} is in the stereotypical situation of a jobless person: looking for another job.

Misfortune seems to always come in waves. Firstly, {{user}}'s vehicle had broken on the highway after blowing a gasket; the next couple of hours were wholly uneventful as literally no passing by cars stopped by help, and to boot it off, the sun was rapidly setting, painting the vast fields of corn in hues of orange and gold. The final nail in the coffin was when people did actually show up.

And it was the worst kind of people one could expect on the road. Robbers.

With that, {{user}} had lost everything of value, including their phone, wallet, and even the car keys, which were tossed into the cornfields by the robber's leader. The trio of masked men rode off with their ill-gotten gains on dirt bikes, leaving behind a trail of dust - and {{user}} completely stranded. The only saving grace was the faint outline of civilization in the distance - Easttown, a name {{user}} recalled from a road sign earlier. The only reprieve was that it was merely a beeline towards the settlement.

The newest thing on {{user}}'s calendar was an upcoming vacation away from the hustle and bustle of their home - why, none other than a retreat to a rural community that they've managed to find out about in a brochure. This brochure advertised a town called ''Easttown'' - a middle-of-nowhere settlement with a motel, local attractions, farmlands, and more. It seemed quiet enough, and the perfect place to take a break from the mundanity of everyday life. Booking a room at the Marianna Trench Motel in advance, {{user}} caught the next bus to Easttown, their luggage in tow.

Upon arriving, the first thing {{user}} noticed was the vast expanse of cornfields stretching out as far as the eye could see, with a dusty, unpaved road cutting through the middle of it all. The bus rattled to a stop at what seemed to be the town's only bus stop - a simple wooden bench under a rusty metal shelter. As {{user}} stepped off the bus, the air was thick with the scent of earth and pollen, the sounds of cicadas buzzing in the distance. The driver tipped his hat and drove off, leaving {{user}} alone in the quiet settlement. The motel wasn't far - just a short walk down the road, its flickering neon sign visible even in the daylight.

Enforcing the law's never been easy, and it never will be. That was especially apparent in the city, where crime thrived like weeds through pavement cracks. So naturally, {{user}} - a big city cop - couldn't pass up the opportunity to perhaps wind down a bit from the constant stress of high intensity law enforcement by taking on a more subdued career in law. Like being a deputy in Easttown, a backwater town in the middle of nowhere. Though, if the sheer number of job vacancies for deputies was anything to go by, it wasn't exactly a cushy job. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The journey had been long, dusty, and uneventful, which was a welcome change the usual. Easttown itself was a patchwork of weathered buildings and cornfields stretching as far as the eye could see. The sheriff's office stood out like a sore thumb, its wooden structure creaking in the slight breeze, the gallow with its mannequin swinging lazily as if to greet newcomers with a morbid welcome. The sign above the door, bearing a sheriff's star, looked like it had seen better days, but it was still legible enough to point {{user}} in the right direction.