Kat was dreaming again.

She saw the mirror above the fireplace shimmer and ripple, drawing her in once more.

Then she heard a sound... The sound of wind sweeping over vast plains, sighing through the long grass and through the leaves of lush forests.

Light rose, like the break of dawn, and she saw a mighty rock formation, tall and peaked, with an endless sky arching away above it, filled with clouds.

Of course, it was all grayscale... Again. But the scenery was breathtaking...

Two figures were walking up the rock formation-- some kind of cliff?

Wait-- no, not figures; at least, not exactly.

They were animals.

One of them, the smaller one, was some kind of primate. Kinda like a baboon, but not entirely... It had a tail, a long, fleshy face, and a ruff of coarse fur around its face and neck, giving it a kind of wizened, venerable look.

Whatever it was, it loped along a few steps in front of its companion, adding a few cheerful hops to its gait every so often. For some reason, it was using a-- a walking stick... A long, somewhat crooked wooden staff, with what looked like dried gourds hung near the top.

The other one...

...It was a lion.

Honestly, it was a stunning animal... Like, if there was such a thing as a 'perfect' specimen of lion, this would have to be it. He-- and this was definitely a he, because holy shit that mane-- was striding tall and proud, one huge paw placed elegantly in front of the other. His body was strong and muscular, but not overly bulky, still with that undeniable feline elegance.

Again, she saw the grayscale color scheme glitch... Where the lion's muscles rippled under his coat, there were brief gleams of rich gold, and the folds of his mane seemed to shimmer auburn.

The primate's fur, meanwhile, glinted a faintly bluish gray... And, where the light played off its cheeks and snout, she saw glimpses of blue and red.

The pair, as unlikely as they were, didn't seem uneasy of each other... In fact, they-- they... Honestly, she was probably anthropomorphizing the shit out of them, but they seemed to be... Friends? Like, there was really no other way to put it...

Actually, as she watched, they exchanged glances, and-- and... Smiled.

...They SMILED.

They were still animals-- like, very, very clearly animals. But somehow, they had given each other the small, fond smile of old friends.

Before she could think more about that-- or at least TRY to, since she was never any good at lucid dreaming-- the pair was approaching the tip of the rock formation.

A little ways away from the peak, lounging in the shade of a small, scrubby tree that clung stubbornly to the rock's surface, was another animal... A lioness.

The lion drew closer, and they bonked heads, rubbing up against each other and closing their eyes. Aw... Were they mates or something? Pair-bonded, or whatever? Could lions pair-bond like housecats?

Lowering her head, the lioness nuzzled at something huddled in her curled forelegs. The 'something' shifted, wriggling a little... And gleaming a tawny gold. Like, not glitching a little bit, like the others-- bright, vivid, undeniably golden fur. After a second, it rolled over, and a little face peeped out, blinking.

...Oh my god, that's the cutest thing I've ever fucking seen.

The 'thing' was a lion cub-- a very, very young one, by all appearances. It had that distinctive, 'new kitten' look... Chubby, roly-poly body, stumpy legs and tail, and floppy, nubby ears, far down on the sides of its head. As it looked around at-- presumably-- its parents, she could tell that its eyes probably hadn't been open for very long.

The lion lowered his head, giving it a gentle snoot-boop before stepping back respectfully as the primate approached.

Eyes twinkling like a mischievous grandfather, the primate dangled its staff above the cub's head, making the gourds rattle. The cub reached up, little paws fumbling clumsily as it tried to bat at them, and-- aaaaaagh, that was SO fucking cute...!

Smiling fondly, the primate pulled the staff out of reach before the cub could actually get its claws into the enticing new toys. It plucked one of the gourds off, then laid the staff down, breaking the... Wait, no, actually, it looked like some kind of fruit-- in half. Taking a a smudge of gooey liquid on its thumb, it smeared it gently onto the cub's forehead in a horizontal streak.

The cub itself didn't really seem to know what was going on. It boggled vacantly as the primate scooped up a small handful of dust or sand and sprinkling it carefully over its head, making it sneeze.

With another wry smile, the primate scooped the cub up from its mother's paws. Propping it gently against its shoulder, it turned, walking slowly towards the tip of the rock formation.

The lion and lioness leaned their heads against each other, watching proudly as the primate stopped at the very edge of the pointed cliff.

Even while asleep, Kat felt a brief jolt of dread-- oh no, it wasn't gonna DROP the baby, was it?!

But, thankfully, it didn't... Instead, holding the cub under its 'armpits' with its back half dangling, it lifted it to face the vast, sweeping landscape, like it was presenting it to the sky.

The early morning clouds parted, and a single beam of sunlight streamed down, shining perfectly on the blinking cub like a spotlight.

The wind swept up a rush of sound-- thundering hooves, distant trumpets, bellows and bird calls of all kinds. In fact, a bird actually soared into view at the same moment, wings spread wide as it circled over the rock formation and the figures on the peak.

The last thing Kat saw before the dream started to fade away into darkness was a brief gleam of bright blue in its feathers...

Slowly, she bobbed back to the surface of consciousness.

Light was seeping in through her eyelids... She rolled onto her side, grumbling internally.

Ugh, she didn't want to get up... She knew she had to, though. Rrrrrrrr...

Something shifted beside her, and she heard a few mumbling growls and murrs. "Myaaaan--!!Grmph... Fnyangh! Mrmrmrgh..."

She opened her eyes reluctantly, looking down at Grim. As she watched, the little creature thrashed and rolled around in his sleep, mumbling a few more times.

...Was he having a nightmare?

No, he had a big dopey grin on his face...

"Funyaaagh... Well? Howzzat?" He mumbled, ears twitching with his eyes still closed. "Gotta taste a' Grim-shama's powersh?"

Kat rolled her eyes, propping her head up on her hand. Why am I not surprised...

Grim shifted and mumbled a few more times, drooling slightly from his open mouth. "Take THAT, ya spoilt' lil' brat... Shoulda' never crossed me, Riddle..."

...Okay, that was just about enough.

"Hey," Kat said, poking a fluffy cheek with her index finger. "Wakey wakey, Grim-sama."

He mumbled, smacking his lips. Then he jerked awake, eyes snapping open with a strangled snort. "H-Huh? Whazz'goin'on? Where the heck-- 'S this the Ramshackle Dorm?"

" 'Fraid so," Kat replied, rolling over and groping for her glasses. Finding them, she shoved them back onto her face, rolling over again and looking at Grim.

"What the-- aw, maaaan..." He sat up, crossing his front legs over his chest and grumbling. "What, it was just a dream? Tch... An' I was getting to the good part, too! I was about ta' show Riddle who's REALLY the greatest mage around here..."

Kat rolled her eyes, sitting up herself and yawning. It had been a few days since the do-over Unbirthday Party, but her body was still pretty sore from everything that happened... God, she hadn't even had time to recover from the FIRST bout of everything before the NEXT bout started!

"God, I'm still tired from all that... Ugh. Ow..." She put her head to one side, pounding on her shoulder with her other fist. At the very least, she'd had enough time to fall into a routine by now...

"Alright, we gotta get up, or we're gonna miss breakfast. I gotta get dressed..." Extricating herself from the bedding, she swung her legs off the bed, shuffling to the closet. She'd taken to wearing the white leggings that Crewel had supplied her with as pajama pants, which made her feel a lot more secure.

"Alright!" Grim cheered, hopping down from the bed and scampering across the floor. Bunching up, he jumped onto the mantelpiece, standing on it and surveying himself in the mirror. "Lemme just fix myself up a little.. "

He licked his paws. Then he fluffed up his lopsided cheek fur, smoothing down his fluffy white chest and flicking his fiery ears. "The Great Magician's got classes to ace today! Let's get a move on!"

"Alright, alright," Kat grinned. Opening the closet, she pulled out her uniform, hanging off a coat hanger. "I gotta get ready, too... Go wait downstairs for me, 'kay?"

"Okay!" Grim replied, polishing his magestone pendant on one of the tails of his ribbon. "But don't take TOO long, otherwise I'm gonna leave without ya!" Hopping back down off the fireplace, he strolled over to the door.

Draping her uniform over her arm, Kat hurried over, pulling it open and letting him out, then closing it again. With that settled, she turned her attention to the task of getting ready for the day.

Deodorant applied heavily, pants, socks and shoes put on... Then it was a trip to the bathroom to pee, brush her teeth and wash her face. With that completed, she hurried back to her room. She pulled the button-down on over a white t-shirt so the bra wouldn't show, then her hoodie, and finally her jacket. Lastly, she applied moisturizer and sunscreen.

Tugging a brush through her hair, she looked into the mirror above the fireplace as she tied her tie in a loose bow.

She paused for a second, blinking slowly.

This mirror...

It was definitely old, with a tarnished silver frame and speckles of age on the glass. It was even a little foggy around the edges, like dust was trapped between the first layer of glass and whatever made it reflective. Considering how old it looked, it might actually be silver...

She remembered the reason there was a superstition that vampires didn't appear in mirrors was because mirrors used to be made with silver... It used to be considered a holy metal. So, theoretically speaking, vampires might not have a problem with modern mirrors...

...How come this mirror was always featured in her dreams, though? At least, the really vivid, black-and-white ones she'd been having lately.

Shaking her head, she turned.

Grabbing her schoolbag and the ghost camera from the sheet-covered chair, she popped out of the room. "Okay-- ready!" She announced as she hopped down the stairs into the lounge.

Grim ran up to her eagerly, scaling her like a tree and taking his customary place on her shoulder. "Alright!" He cheered. "Let's hurry an' get some grub before it's too late!"

"You got it," she smiled, moving towards the front hall.

In the cafeteria, seated at one of the long tables, Kat took a bite of bagel. Washing it down with a swig of tea, she flipped through a battered notebook.

She'd designated this notebook as a makeshift 'sketchbook'... About a quarter of the pages were already filled with scribbles and sketches. She didn't have any reference images anymore, so their quality was a little underwhelming, compared to her usual works...

But eh, whatever.

She flipped past a page of sketches of Sailor Moon characters drawn from memory, then a scribbled design for a 'feminine' version of the Heartslabyul dorm uniform... Lolita-inspired, obviously.

Then it was a few pages filled with sketches of the people she'd met so far...

Not hyper-realistic or anything, she didn't go in for that style.

She was also fairly face-blind, so even though there were plenty of 'references' available, she'd gone for a more... Stylized approach.

And it had come out fairly well, to be honest...

There was a headshot of Ace in her semi-anime, semi-animated movie style. He was grinning mischievously with a few 'laugh lines' around him.

Deuce, smiling politely with his eyes closed, then another one with a dangerous look on his face.

An attempt at Grim, curled up into a 'croissant' and sleeping. Then a significantly less detailed one of him with the infamous 'knife cat' smirk on his face.

Crewel, Trein, Vargas, Crowley, Cater, Trey, Sam...

A few of Riddle, more than she'd actually set out to do, but he was just so-- well... Pretty, for lack of a better word, that she couldn't help it.

A fairly good attempt at Che'nya, a significantly worse one at Lilia, and...

...She stopped, blinking.

The lion-eared person.

His bangs probably weren't right, and his face didn't seem to quite be the right shape, but...

Ace, sitting next to her, craned his neck, peering at the notebook. "Whoa," he said, a genuine note of surprise in his voice. "Did YOU draw all that?!"

"Duh," she replied, turning the page again. This time it was a page full of sketches of the little girl from her dreams, and a few attempts at the Queen of Hearts.

She kept turning until she found a blank page. Putting a mechanical pencil between the pages like a bookmark, she closed it.

"Hey, wait a sec," Ace complained, pouting. "I wanna see! Let me take a look, Pre-K, please?" He reached over, trying to grab at the notebook.

She smacked his hand sharply, making him hiss and yank it back.

"Paws off," she ordered, picking up the notebook and shuffling it into her schoolbag. "Don't grab somebody's sketchbook without permission, stupid."

"Wh-- OW!" He whined, flapping his 'injured' hand with a grimace. "Come on, I just wanted to LOOK! And besides-- one of these days you're actually gonna SERIOUSLY HURT me with all this violence, you know? What're you gonna do THEN?"

"Probably sleep like a baby that night," she retorted, taking another bite of bagel. "And speaking of babies-- didn't they teach you not to snatch stuff out of other kids' hands when you were in preschool? 'Specially not when you've been drowning your innocent breakfast in syrup like YOU'VE been."

She nodded towards his plate, which was, in fact, swimming with syrup, along with a few remnants of French toast... Or the equivalent, since she still didn't know if there was a France here or not.

"I MIGHT consider letting you have a look if you ASKED first... But ONLY with clean, dry hands. Otherwise, it's no dice."

"Sheesh-- okay, okay, I GET it," Ace grumbled, grabbing his plate and scooting away a little. "God, forget I asked..."

Exchanging a smirk with Grim, perched on the table next to her devouring his own breakfast, and Deuce, seated across from her, Kat rolled her eyes, continuing to eat her breakfast.

Grim yawned hugely on her shoulder, rubbing his eye with a paw as they walked into the cafeteria. "Maaan... I swear, Trein-sensei musta' cast some kinda sleepin' spell on me! I just couldn't keep my eyes open..."

"Seriously?" Deuce asked, looking at him askance. "I heard you snoring five minutes into class... It didn't seem like you were even trying to me."

Grim stuck his tongue out at him, blowing a small raspberry.

Ace didn't seem to care, strolling along with a spring in his step and humming loudly. "It's-- time- for-- LUNCH!" He sang tunelessly, grinning. "Wonder what I should eat today?"

Then he stopped, looking up and blinking. "What the-- hey, wait a sec... Geez, why's it so crowded in here today?"

Sure enough, it was pretty damn crowded... Students were squeezing into the cafeteria with every passing second, starting to pack together like sardines.

"Rrrr..." Kat shivered slightly. There was too much noise in here... And too many bodies. Maybe she should leave and wait for a little while... Staying in a noisy, overwhelming place like this was sure to drain her sensory battery like nobody's business.

A large, puffy ghost in a chef's hat drifted over. The students actually squeezing together to give it a wide berth, avoiding its chilly aura. "Today's the day when that famous bakery from out of town is serving up their goods," it announced in a deep, comically gloomy voice. "It only happens once a month, you know! The stock sells out reeeally quickly, so if you want something, you'd better get moving!"

Ace perked up, rising up on his tiptoes and craning his neck. "Ooh-- you don't say?"

The crowd was mostly congregated around the small coffee shop on the far wall, waving fistfuls of madol bills and shouting over each other.

"Hey-- I'll have three of those chocolate croissants!" She heard somebody yell eagerly.

Somebody with a Heartslabyul vest and armband struggled out of the thicket of people, clutching something protectively to their chest. "WOO-HOO!" They cheered, pumping a fist. "Lucky-- I actually managed to get my hands on an egg sandwich this month! These things are AMAZING!"

"Egg sandwiches are now sold out!" A high, ghostly voice piped up from the booth. "And there's only one deluxe minced cutlet sandwich remaining! Better hurry!"

Craning his neck, Ace whistled, raising his eyebrows. "Ehhh... Man, everything looks GREAT! Maybe I'll go check it out..."

Deuce peered over the crowd as well, blinking. "Wow-- guess it really MUST be popular," he said, turning to Kat. "Kat, Grim-- do you want to try and get anything?"

"Ehh... Nah," Kat replied, shaking her head. "I'll stick with the normal buffet... There's too many people over there."

"Ohh," Deuce said, nodding. "Okay... Well-- Grim, how about--"

Then he stiffened, looking shocked. "...Huh?"

Kat blinked.

...She hadn't noticed before, since she was a little overwhelmed by all the noise and activity, but her shoulder felt a lot lighter.

"...Dammit," she sighed. "I seriously can't take my eyes off him for a second..."

"Hey, hey, HEY!" The prideful little voice piped up. "Better step aside, losers, 'cause that deluxe minced cutlet sandwich is gonna be MINE!"

"Wh-- HEY!" Somebody protested. "What's the deal, man?! No cutting!"

"Hey, wait a sec!" Somebody else snapped. "Ain't you a first-year?! Whaddaya' think you're doing, trying to cut in front a' your senpais?! You've got some nerve, ya little pest! How 'bout I teach you some manners, huh?!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Kat grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Not this again..."

"Geez," Deuce muttered, grimacing in shock. "That guy... It's like he forgets literally everything else when it comes to food!"

"Ah-ahh," Ace sighed, drooping dramatically. "Here we go again..."

"GRIM!" Kat shouted over the noise, hoisting her bag a little higher on her shoulder and starting to try and shove her way into the crowd. "IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE RIGHT NOW, I SWEAR TO GOD!"

Ace and Deuce exchanged glances, then sighed, pulling their pens out of their breast pockets and following her reluctantly.

Author's Notes:

AYOOOOOOO FURRY CHAPTER HERE WE GO

Kat's gonna have to put Grim in a baby carrier.

It's been about a week and a day since the overblot fight.

Riddle was in the infirmary for like 3 days of that. I don't care what the game says, it takes time to recover from getting possessed by Venom acid and literally having to have it beat out of you. He's okay now, though.

Another time skip fight! Pog.

...Like I said, fights are hard for me. Or at least, incorporating the in-game fights are, for some reason.