Diane’s eyes shot open long before her mind caught back up with her, her body frozen in place almost like the sleep paralysis felt when waking from mid dream. Except… this felt quite different… as her eyes slowly meandered around the ceiling, followed by an incredibly slow blink.

*iiiiiiiiiinhaaaaaaaaleeeeeee*

*eeeeeexhaaaaaaaleeeeeee*

Why…. Does…. Everything…. Feel…. So…. Slow?

In the space of what felt like an eternity, Diane slowly raised her arm to look at her hand, each finger slowly separating until her palm was fully open. Then… with the momentary sound similar to a sudden downpour… her mind caught up to reality.

Almost hyperventilating, she twisted around and yanked her spell book out from under her pillow, before rapidly flipping it open and reading between each of the spells. She hardly noticed that, in spite of the darkness, she could still see the pages as if it were daylight out… her iris’ gleaming yellow, as a very different reality slowly set in.

Its… the same… Shadow Step… Devour Life… and that one must have been Devil’s Ray… all at the top tier, and then there were more! What was that piercing beam?! Or that last spell before…

Diane’s eyes winced hard, as simply recalling the experience caused her mind to shudder. When she opened them again, she glanced quickly around the room just to make sure she didn’t disturb anyone.

Emily snuck off to sleep in the closet again…

Diane pouted a little, before freezing up.

Where’s Clover?! And where’s Thistle?!?!

She jumped up from bed, looking around frantically for a moment as a quick shadow broke the constant stream of moonlight from the window.

Was that..?

*PFFFFT*

As Diane quietly crept towards the window and stuck her head out, a large fluffy tail smacked her dead in the face, filling her mouth with mounds of Saber Tooth Cat hair!

“Clover!!” Diane sputtered out, her voice both sharp and in a whisper to try and avoid waking anyone!

“Get back inside! Hey, listen to me you oversized cat!”

Lacking any response from Clover, while deftly dodging some chaotic tail swipes, Diane finally had enough and managed to clamber onto the roof herself from the window, only just noticing Clovers numerous scratch marks on both the window sill and the side of the roof.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Thistleman was also laying passed out on the roof with one leg dangling lazily off the edge, using Clover as a pillow. Perhaps… the most practical use of an oversized cat, if you didn’t particularly worry about its massive teeth?

Diane looked almost as if she was going to berate Thistleman, standing proud with her chest puffed out like a drill sergeant. However, she instead let out a small sigh before sitting down on the roof while hugging her knees, and her pajamas ruffling slightly in the breeze.

“The moon is really quite nice tonight…” she muttered quietly to herself, and then just sitting in silence while lost in thought, listening to Clover’s rhythmic breathing.

After a short while, Thistleman began to stir a moment, before bolting up.

*eeek!*

The sudden movement took her by surprise, and she couldn’t stifle a small yelp.

“Diane, when did you come up here?!” The surprise in his voice was palpable.

“I should ask the same of you!” Diane countered quite matter-of-factly.

“I… uh… well… thought it would be nice out…”

Got youuu!

“So you took Clover on to the roof for a nap?!”

“… It was really nice out…”

“Hmph! Well, I suppose it is.”

Diane took a moment to act like she was appraising the night while she appreciated the guilty look of someone caught doing something they shouldn’t have.

Laugh at me getting drenched in alcohol again and I will tell Auntie Rhyme you’re damaging the inn! Fufufufu!

After she took her moment of self-adulation and enjoyed her secret blackmail plot to call in later, she asked another question to try and get past her sudden pang of guilt.

“Were you dreaming?”

“Yeah.”

“What about?”

“… just some old memories that got dredged up, things that I felt like I’d forgotten.”

Thistleman looked wistfully back up at the sky, before turning to sit on the edge of the roof. Diane came and sat down next to him, and after another moment of silence, she continued.

“Were they happy memories?”

“…that all depends on your definition of happy.”

Confusion was certainly written all over Diane’s face as she tried to process… well, that.

“What? Happy is happy, you know? Its like… a time where you smile because your kind of satisfied and your enjoying yourself? Kinda like in a peaceful or fun kinda way?”

“I see… then… I suppose not.” Thistle continued to stare off into the moonlit sky, his eyes weighed down by a weariness that crosses countless lifetimes, a weight inconceivable to any who cannot feel such things themselves.

“Oh…”

Diane’s voice trailed off slowly. Her face scrunched up in thought, before she stood up and balled her hands into determined little fists.

“Then… in that case, c’mon Clover! Get up you sleepy cat!” Diane got a little loud, but still not too loud, as she tried to wake the Saber Toothed Cat up. It was an action that, for just about any other adventurer in history, would be considered sheer folly. Then again, those adventurers also hadn’t managed to successfully adopt a Saber Toothed Cat without getting eaten in the process.

Thistleman looked over, as it was his turn to be confused yet again!

“What… are you up to?” Thistle managed to push out his question, as Clover stretched and yawned, his claws also stretching out of his paws and cutting nice grooves into the roof.

“I am going to have some fun.” Without skipping a beat, she hopped right on to Clover’s fluffy back.

“What? Now? But aren’t we still grounded?” Thistle’s confusion was only getting worse.

“Then I am sneaking out. Ready Clover?”

She patted Clover on the head, as he closed his eyes and gave a soft yowl almost in affirmation.

“If you want to join me, then catch up! You might think you were so sneaky, but I have seen how fast you can run!” With a small giggle, she gripped tightly on to Clover’s fur, as he leapt into the street below and bolted off into the city.

Thistleman stood on the roof for a minute, his mouth still somewhat agape.

When did she see me running?! I’m not that bad at staying in character, am I?!

Thistleman’s eye twitched a little at the thought that he might not be as good at doing things that don’t involve destroying other things as he thought he was.

If you really want to see fast… no, no… just… normal fast… calm… don’t accidentally break the city again…

After a couple deep breaths, Thistleman hopped off the side of the roof and lightly jogged after Diane and Clover. It’s pretty simple really, just gotta follow the scent of Saber Toothed Cat!