Chapter 16: A Portrait Spying
Later in the night, Briar and the others continue to sleep. Like before, Briar ends up having another dream. Briar soon finds herself in some dark area.
Briar looks around and wonders, "What is this place? Where am I now?"
Suddenly, she hears footsteps that sound like marching. Suddenly, scenery turns yellow and turns her head to see various rows of hyenas are marching as they have their heads up, and seem to be facing the same direction.
"A parade of animals…? No… hyenas…?" Briar says, confused. "What's going on here?"
Suddenly, a lion appears on the top of the tall rock pillar. The lion is elegant and poised, but also unkempt and wild-looking. He is perhaps the most evidently feline lion, scraggly and melanistic in appearance with a sleek, black mane, tawny fur, and distinctive, almond-shaped neon green eyes. He has large, tan paws with long, curving black claws that, unlike those of other lions she has seen in pictures. He also has a white goatee beard, and a small, thin, pink scar over his left eye. She soon remembers that the lion looks a lot like the statue of Scar, so she begins to think that the lion is Scar.
On the top of the rock, Scar says, " The world is about to be turned upside down. A shining new era is near.
Then one of the hyenas named Shenzi asks, "And where do we fit in?"
"Just listen," Scar says. "We're going to take out Mufasa AND his son. And then I will be king!"
Then another hyena named Banzai cheers, "All right! Long live the King!"
Then all the hyenas cheer, "Long live the King!"
Then Scar says, "I've fangs and courage that none can match. So be prepared!"
Briar simply watches as she isn't entirely sure what is taking place.
Confused and concerned, Briar wonders, "Why did he want to be king so badly?"
The next day, Briar soon begins to wake up from her sleep. She sits and lets out a yawn.
She rubs her eyes and says, "Man, I can't believe I had another animal dream. It was pretty wild."
She then says in thought, "How come that lion seems so familiar."
Just then, the door opens and Grim enters the room, "Oh, Briar, you're up?"
"Yeah. I'm up," Briar says.
"Good. Get the girls up! Breakfast is gettin' cold! Let's go eat already!" Grim says.
Briar giggles, "Alright."
After getting up, and getting dressed, the Ramshackle Dorm group are making their way to the school and are in Main Street.
Grim turns to Briar, "By the way, did you go somewhere last night? I got up to warm up some milk. Was gonna see if you and the girls wanted some but you weren't there."
"Oh sorry about that," Briar says.
"Where did you go off to?" Sereia asks.
"Well, I had trouble sleeping last night because my body felt sore after what happened at the Savanaclaw Dorm Spelldrive field, and decided to go out and get some air, and to think about stuff. But the weirdest thing is that a boy with black horns approached me sometime I came out of the dorm," Briar explains.
"Huh! A weird dude with horns?" Grim says, surprised.
"I wouldn't call him weird, but he seems mysterious," Briar says.
"Did this dude have a name?" Grim asks.
"That's the weird thing, he didn't give me his name. I asked him and he said it will be best for me not to know," Briar says.
"What does that mean?" Jasper asks, confused.
"I have no idea. He said that he'll allow me to call him the name that I choose," Briar says.
Then Grim raises his paw, "Ooh, ooh, let me pick it! Howsabout... 'Hornton'!"
"Hornton?!" The group replied with confused looks.
"Yeah. Because of the big horns on his head," Grim says.
"I don't know if he'll appreciate that one," Briar sheepishly says.
"He said 'of your choosing,' right? Then he's got no right to complain!" Grim says.
"But it sounds a bit weird. And it sounds a bit silly," Briar says.
"Alright then, so what are you thinking of calling him?" Grim questions with a frown.
"Well, I was thinking of calling him Tsunotarou," Briar says.
"Tsunotarou?" Sereia says, confused.
"Well, it's a Japanese name. Tsun means horn, and Tarou means eldest son. It's a Japanese name," Briar says.
"Hmm, I think the name sounds a lot better for some reason. I like the name Hornton, but Tsunotarou sounds better," Grim says.
"Yeah. It's a good name," Jasper says.
"I think it sounds nice," Sereia says.
"Seems good to me," Tanzanite says.
Trinket nods her head in reply.
Then Sereia asks, "If you don't mind me asking, do you think he's some kind of visitor to another world like you."
"No. I think I would have noticed that. I think he was from here. And he's also wearing a school uniform from the school," Briar says.
"So Tsunotarou is a student?" Tanzanite asks.
"I think he is and from the green color of the vest and the green and black band on his arm, I think he's from the Diasomnia Dorm," Briar says.
"If Tsunotarou really is a student here, who knows when we might run into him? If we do, introduce me! I ain't never seen a human with horns before," Grim happily says.
"I like to meet him too," Sereia says.
Jasper and Tanzanite nod their heads in reply.
Suddenly, they hear a familiar voice calling out, "Mornin', Briar and friends."
The group turns to see Cater and Riddle walking towards them.
"Oh good morning Riddle. Good morning Cater," Briar says.
"Morning," Sereia says.
Riddle turns to Briar, "Hm. Your tie is crooked, you know."
"Huh?" Briar says, confused.
Riddle walks over and helps straighten her tie out, "A disorderly uniform suggests a disorderly dorm. As prefect, you should set a better example for your dorm members. Even if you only have a small number of students in your dorm." Soon, Riddle is finished, "...There. All better."
"Oh thank you," Briar says.
"You're welcome," Riddle says.
Then Grim asks, "So, where's Ace and Deuce?"
"In accordance with rule 249, it's their turn to wear pink clothes and feed the flamingos," Riddle answers.
"Wear pink clothes to feed the flamingos?" Tanzanite asks, and giggles.
Briar giggles, "Ace and Deuce? Wearing pink? That's something I like to see."
Why do they need to do that?" Jasper asks, and chuckles.
"Well, it is the rule," Riddle says.
"I mean an actual reason besides that it's the rule," Jasper says.
"Maybe the flamingos will feel comfortable while we feed them?" Sereia suggests.
Grim chuckles, "Maybe."
Riddle clears his throat and calmly says, "By the way, it seems there was another incident last night."
This catches everyone off guard.
"Myah?! Really?!" Grim asks.
"Did you know what happened?" Briar asks.
"According to a portrait who witnessed it, the victim was a sophomore from Scarabia House. His name is Jamil Viper. It appears the accident happened in the kitchen," Cater says.
"Scarabia? That's the dorm with red-and-gold armbands, right?" Tanzanite asks.
"That's correct," Cater replies.
"And with a portrait serving as our security camera…?" Jasper says.
"Also right," Riddle says.
"Did the portrait see who did it?" Briar asks.
"Sadly no, but the portrait did witness what happened," Cater says.
Then Riddle says, "It's breakfast time, so he may be in the cafeteria. Let's go see."
Everyone nods their heads and decides to head to the cafeteria to find Jamil and ask him about the incident he's in.