Lori barely noticed Hugh walk in, zoned into reading her book. Only once she heard a “hi Lori” did she look up and smile. “Hey...” she said before returning her focus back to her book. She couldn’t quite describe it, but reading it gave her a strange feeling. It felt good, like it was warming her core, similar to the way alcohol warmed her before making her tipsy. She knew a book couldn’t do that though, nevertheless, she kept reading.<br/><br/>It wasn’t until she noticed Hugh was still talking that she relegated to closing the book and paying attention to him. Funnily enough, the feeling remained. “Hmm,” she hummed more to herself when she realized it, but also in acknowledgement of Hugh’s words, “I haven’t gotten to the curricula yet. I’m still on the history of the school. It’s pretty interesting. Did you know this school was founded almost 5,000 years ago?! I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how much I believe that, but hey, you guys clearly live differently than humans do, so, ya know. Our oldest school is barely over a thousand. Had to look that one up when I was reading this.” She laughed a bit when she held her phone up, showing the screen to a web page detailing the university in Bologna. “Oh! Hey, by the way, what’s your number? We should probably swap in case either of us get locked out, one can come rescue the other.”<br/><br/>As Hugh asked his question, Lori’s mind went elsewhere for a brief moment, “.....did your clothes shrink?” She blurted out. Her mind could not keep in one place it seemed. Before she was very recluse in her demeanor, seeing everything through a horrifying lens. Now it seemed she was about as much of a chatterbox as Hugh was. “Nevermind,” she shook her head, realizing it may have something to do with his monster-type and she wasn’t sure she was ready to know just yet, “I’m still not used to it.” She said, finally answering his question about seeing unusual people, “it’s disconcerting to say the least, and apparently my work study job here is to act as a live human model while everybody in class just stares at me.” She said this with a hint of begrudging in her voice. Of course, she didn’t know the full extent of her job just yet, but this was all she knew so far. “On the bright side, the dean gave me a free pass for the week.” She smiled widely again. “I don’t have to work until Friday! Until then I can relax, get acclimated, take my actual courses on Thursday. Or, if it ends up being too much for me, then I might have to leave. Let’s hope almost everybody treats me as nicely as you and the Lawrences.” She smiled again, a sincere one as she watched Hugh climb into his bunk. “Then I might stay...I’m certainly already considering it.” She explained as she proceeded to lie down in her own bed, legs crossed, hands behind her head, and stared at the ceiling above her.<br/><br/>She glanced over at Hugh, on his bunk bed over Ed’s. “Goodnight, Hugh, and thanks again for today.” She said before reaching up to the light switch above her bed to shut off the lights. It took her a while to fall asleep though. Everything that’s happened so far playing through her mind, the whole day racing, stopping only to think about specific faces that made the most impression on her: Ed who was very forward and she still feels like she needs to talk to, Professor Salini who was gorgeous but terrifying, TA Lawrence who was super nice but scared her the most, centaur Lawrence who seemed to be more half bear than half man, she did wonder what a hug from him would be like, and then Hugh. She smiled and glanced over at her new friend once more before closing her eyes for the night and, with a sigh, she let herself drift.<br/><br/>——————————————————<br/><br/>Lori awoke the next morning with a deep yawn and a stretch. She sat up in bed and looked around. It seemed she slept with her book, forgetting to put it away. She hummed in thought once more as she lifted it, feeling that feeling all over again. Before she knew it, she started thinking about her dream the night before. It was as if she were at a party, or in class, she couldn’t be sure as the setting was not her focus. She stood in the middle of the room and saw at the corners were groups of monster of various shapes, sizes, colors, and kinds all surrounding something, or somebody, that she couldn’t see. Before she could walk over to find out, the two Lawrences and Hugh surrounded her in much the same manner. Next thing she knew, they were touching her all over her body. She was naked. But she wasn’t the only one, so were the guys. Suddenly, they were doing more than just touching her and she could hear moans come out of her mouth. She couldn’t remember any more details, but she could remember the feeling, and it felt...amazing. She loved it. As the dream progressed the faces shifted to other monsters taking the place of Hugh and the Lawrences, no longer in the middle of the room but in the corners she had observed earlier, all of them  doing the same thing, as if taking turns, again and again and again. She was covered and filled with sweat and juices all over as her mind teleported from group to group, feeling everything they gave to her.<br/><br/>Then her stomach growled, pulling her from her reminiscing. She cleared her throat and gently slapped her face. Her cheeks were definitely red and her heart was racing. When she looked over to Hugh she almost felt ashamed for dreaming about him in such a way. Nevertheless, she grabbed her book and flipped through to the maps. “I can’t believe I didn’t eat anything all day yesterday, I’m starving. Where’s the cafeteria in the place?” She muttered to herself as she sat there trying to make sense of the map and trying to push her previous thoughts away.