Dream land...
Playing cards with humanoid features such as faces, hands, and feet are painting white rose bushes red in a frantic hurry.
<Cards> Hurry up and paint those roses red! Slather them quickly, as aforesaid!
<Ace of clubs> Hurry, hurry! There are still roses left to paint!
They're painting... roses? Why even bother in the first place? That ruins the flowers.
<Alice> Why are you painting these white roses red?
<Cards> Huh?
<Two of Clubs> Why, you ask? It's quite simple. We planted the wrong color, you see.
<Ace of Clubs> The Queen likes her roses red. If they're white, we'll lose our heads!
<Alice> Goodness!
<Three of Clubs> And so, we're painting the roses red.
'Alice' helps the cards paint the roses red.
∙∙·▫▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫▫·∙∙
Your pov...
Italics- thoughts
Just what was that? The cards had faces and were talking. I open my eyes to hear something banging on the front door. Who's at the door?
"Hey, Y/n..." Grim says sleepily. "I know it's the middle of the night, but I think we've got a visitor. Maybe it's those pesky ghosts again? They just don't know when to quit."
I got up, put on a robe and made my way downstairs with Grim not far behind me.
"What's the password," I say when I reach the door.
"Huh, there's a password," the person outside questions and I recognize the voice as Ace. "It's me Ace! Just let me in, all right?"
"Ace? It's the middle of the night," Grim says sleepily as I open the door. We take a good look at Ace and notice a collar around his neck. "That collar!"
"I can't go back to Heartslabyul. I'm joining your dorm," Ace declares. "For good!"
"Come again," Grim paled and it was clear that the was starting to wake up.
"What a kind offer, really, but I rather not," I yawn. "Please go away."
"What, you can't kick me out," Ace complains and I look at him. "Okay, technically you can, but please don't!"
"Fine," I sigh. "Let's head to the lounge area." I let Ace in and close the door. We then walked over to the lounge area.
"I'd recognize that collar anywhere," Grim says as he got on the coffee table while me and Ace sat on the couch. "It's the same one that psycho stuck on me at orientation! What'd you do to get shackled with that?"
"I ate a tart," Ace frowns.
"Seriously, a tart," I question. I have no idea what that is, but I'll pretend I do.
"Yeah, that's it," Ace snapped. "That's all I did! I was a little hungry, see, so I went down to the dorm kitchen and found some tarts in the fridge. Three whole tarts! Big ones, too!" Ace goes into a little flashback and I sat there confused. What in Abuela's name is a 'tart'? It kinda sounds like food but I'm not sure. "And... here I am."
"So... The point is you're both terrible," Grim questions, unamused.
"You don't think that it's insane for my magic to get sealed away for eating ONE slice of tart," Ace tried to prove his innocence. "For a mage, that's like having your arms and legs bound and shackled. And there were three whole tarts! THREE!! It's not like he could eat 'em all himself! C'mon, you KNOW this is messed up!"
"I mean, it doesn't seem too bad", I said. I remember the last time I went to take food that didn't belong to me, I almost died 'cause of it.
"What kinda wishy-washy answer is that," Ace exclaims.
"Well, sorry," I sarcastically apologize. "There are worse things than not having magic and being collared."
"Yeah, but..." Grim spoke up. "I mean, if there were three of 'em, they were probably for a party. Maybe it was someone's birthday or somethin'? Lookit that! I'm like, a master detective too!"
"A birthday party, huh..." Ace thinks for a bit.
"Well, did you even apologize," I ask.
"Man... I thought you'd be more sympathetic," Ace frowns. " I'm a victim of the housewarden's tyranny here!"
"You're still in the wrong, since you took food without permission," I yawn. I wanna go back to sleep, but I probably can't since he's here.
"Aw, you gotta be kiddin' me," Ace sighs.
"I'm sure if you just apologize, you might be able to get that collar off of you," I encourage.
"You don't go messin' with another man's meal..." Grim adds, then his face is full of shock. "Hey, wait a minute! I just realized I never got those cans of tuna the headmage promised me!"
"All right, all right. Fine," Ace lets his head hang low. "I get that I should apologize. But you're coming with me, Y/n. This was your idea, after all."
"Fair enough, I guess," I agree.
"Anyways, you got a place for me to crash tonight," Ace asks while he looks around the lounge. "Huh?! Since when was this place covered in ice? And how am I not freezing?"
"Look, estupido, the ice has been here since before you got here," I reply. "I used my Gift, it was the only idea I had at fixing this place up some."
"You were serious about that," Grim refers to the 'crashing' Ace was tryna do. "Outside the bedroom me and Y/n use, the rest of the dorm hasn't really been touched. I mean, why would we? So if you wanna crash, you better start cleanin'!" I giggled at Grim. He doesn't know that the ice completely cleaned up the dorm. Why would he though? It's not like he goes wandering the place, and he seems pretty comfortable sharing a room with me.
"Dude, no way! I hate cleaning," Ace declines. "Just let me stay with you, Y/n. I'm real slim. I won't take up that much space."
"S-stay w-with m-me," I stuttered and my hair started to go aflame. Grim was shocked and Ace jumped up from the couch.
"Oi, what's the matter with you," Ace asks. The longer I think about what Ace said, the bigger the flames got.
"Henchman," Grim called out and it caught my attention. My flames died down as i focused on Grim.
"Sorry," I apologized, then looked at Ace. "Ace, allow me to introduce you to something called a couch."
"Tch. You're about as flexible as a brick," Ace grumbled as he took a seat back on the couch.
"Sorry, but I'm a girl and I'm not ready to sleep with a guy," I shouted and Ace looked at me with wide eyes.
"I just asked a girl to share a bed with me," Ace's face turned red at the realization. "The couch is just fine, I am so sorry! I forgot you weren't a guy. Night!" I got up from the couch, grabbed Grim and rushed up to the bedroom.
⦕Small time skip...⦖
In the morning...
I woke up to the sound of pounding on the front door. I didn't really bother to rush down to answer it 'cause Ace was down there. On the desk, there was a female version of the school uniform. As I was putting it on, I made a small mental note to thank whoever gave it to me. I woke Grim up and brought him downstairs to see Deuce and Ace in the entry way. I waved to Deuce and we all made our way out of the dorm.
"Move it! Outta the way!" Grim smiles as we hit Main Street. "Night Raven College student comin' through!"
"Almost everyone here is a Night Raven student," I mutter. Grim looks at Ace and smirks.
"Oh? Did my collar catch your eye," Grim asks. "It is way better than the one you're stuck with! You know, the one that makes it so you can't use magic? But hey, the school could always use another janitor!"
"I'm having a bit of deja vu," I giggle. "It's like yesterday the roles were reversed!"
"Grrrr! Trust me Grim, when I get my magic back, your hide is the first on the chopping block," Ace frowns.
"Didn't the headmage JUST tell you yesterday, no more incidents," Deuce questions. "Regardless, you're not going to be able to participate in class if you can't use magic. So why not apologize to the housewarden? It's a small price to pay for having the collar removed."
"I hate this so! SO! So much," Ace fumes.
"Hmmm. Ya know, we do still have some time to kill before class starts," Grim says. "And I am kinda curious about the other dorms. Guess I'll go along and scope out the place while you make with the groveling."
"Since when did this become a field trip," Ace asks.
"Since last night," I answered cheerfully. "You did say that I had to come and if Grim doesn't come along, who knows what kind of trouble he can get into."
"Fine, let's just go," Ace hesitantly agrees. We all made our way to the Hall of Mirrors. Once we got there, we went to a mirror that had a frame covered in playing cards and roses. Ace walks through the mirror first, then Grim, and Deuce grabbed my hand, leading me through the mirror.
On the other side of the mirror, we were greeted with a red and white castle-looking building with heart shaped rose hedges along the sides of the pave leading to the building.
"Dang, this place is swank," Grim smiles. "This is nothing like out dumpster of a dorm."
"Say that again and I'll freeze you," I threatened. "I know I need to do something about the outside, but I don't know what." Ace leads us to a rose maze while looking for the dorm leader.
"Aww yeah, I am getting my painting on," a voice says from within the maze.
"Ah, someone's here," Grim says. We follow the sound of the voice to see a ginger male painting the rose bushes. There's no way! It's just like that dream I had.
"Huh...?" The guy turned around and saw us staring at him. "You guys need something?"
"What are you doing there," Ace asks and I facepalmed. It's obvious what he's doing, the question should be 'why'.
"Are you blind? I'm painting the roses red, duh," the ginger says.
"What," Deuce exclaims being taken aback. "Why?!"
"So naive, you put the 'n' in newb," the ginger laughs. "Hold the phone, I know you! You're the ones who broke a billion-thaumark chandelier and nearly got expelled for it, yeah?"
"That chandelier is gonna haunt us till the day we graduate, isn't it," Ace sighs.
"And you," the ginger looks at Ace. "You're the one who ate the housewarden's tart that same night! You guys are THE hot topic around campus! I've gotta get in on this fleeting fame. I'm just gonna grab a selfie real quick..." The ginger holds a rectangle box and pressed his finger into it, a flash occurred. I went to sit on the ground because whatever that thing was took away my eyesight. "It's cool if I post this on Magicam, right? Gimme your names so I can tag you."
"I'm Deuce Spades," Deuce replies.
"Ace," Ace frowns.
"I'm Grim, and that's my henchman, Y/n," Grim points over to me and they all look at me sitting on the ground.
"Hey now, what's wrong with you," the ginger says as his footsteps approach me.
"I can't see," I mutter as my ears drop.
"Oh, so you're sensitive to flash," the ginger analyses. "I'll keep that in mind. Oh, I'm Cater Diamond, by the way. I'm a junior here at Heartslabyul. But Cater is fine. Or Cay-Cay if you're cray-cray! Soooo nice to meetcha."
"It's nice to meet ya too," I say as my eyesight comes back a little. I see Cater reaching out his hand and I take it as he lifts me off the ground to stand back up again.
"Ah, you're the prefect of that so-called Ramshackle dorm, right," Cater asks as he gets a better look at me. "Like, I can't believe you actually live there! It's all gloomy and looks like hot garbage on Magicam. No filter could salvage THAT dump."
"Y'know, you've done nothing but diss us here, pal," Grim frowns and I nod in agreement.
"Gah, what am I doing? I don't have time to chat," Cater rushes over to the rose bush he was at before. "The party's tomorrow. If we're not ready, it's 'off with my head'! Hey, you kids wanna help me paint some roses?"
"Yeah, uh... Why are you doing that exactly," Ace finally questions.
"Because red roses are so much more photogenic! Or... something..." Cater trails off. "And after that, I've gotta start getting things ready for the croquet tournament and that means coloring all the flamingos."
"You're colorin' flamingos now," Grim questions. "Isn't anything the right color around here?!"
"Now it's coming into focus, Ace," Deuce says. "That tart you ate must have been for the housewarden's birthday. That explains his reaction!"
"Hm? Oh, no," Cater interjects. "It's not Riddle's birthday."
"It's not," Ace exclaims. "Then whose birthday is it?"
"It isn't anyone's birthday," Cater explains. "Tomorrow is our dorm's traditional unbirthday party. It's a special tea party we throw when no one has a birthday— if the housewarden feels like it."
"And why would you do that," Ace voices his confusion.
"Again with the questions," Cater smiles. "Listen, I need these roses to be red. Like, yesterday. Can't you guys help out with magic or something? Oh, but Ace is on magical house arrest and Y/n is a total normie, so you two better stick to paint."
"Recolor the roses with magic..." Deuce trails off.
"Can't say I've ever done this before," Grim says unimpressed.
"Relax, it'll be fine. You got this," Cater encourages. "But maybe do it before I lose my head? K-thanx!" Ace and I grabbed paint brushes while Deuce and Cater grabbed their magical pens.
⦕Small time skip...⦖
"Red... Red... BAM!" Deuce casts a spell on a rose. "Wh-whoa! It turned blue?!"
"Change, o foul color! Change! AHA!" Grim casts a spell on a rose and it catches ablaze. "The rose caught on fire!"
"Wow. You're even less competent than I thought," Cater sweat-drops.
"Yo, maybe you should just leave the roses white," Ace suggests. "They look perfectly pretty 'n stuff to me."
"It's a matter of tradition," Cater says. "You can't have an unbirthday party without the roses being red and you can't play croquet without seven-colored flamingos as mallets and a hedgehog for a ball. Oh, but of course the roses need to be white when the garden flowers put on their spring concert. That's absolutely crucial."
"Isabela would be great for this dorm," I muttered to myself. "No one would have to worry about the flowers with her around. Man, why are the Madrigal's Gifts so useful and I'm stuck here being with a useless Gift? It's not fair!"
"All your rules are completely insane," Grim crosses his arms.
"They say the Queen of Hearts made up those rules herself- she was one of the Great Seven, you know," Cater explains. "And Riddle is all about tradition, probably more than previous housewardens, T-B-H."
"Yeah, no kidding," Ace agrees. "I sure don't have time for this nonsense. Is Riddle here? I gotta talk to him."
"Yeah, probably," Cater says. "But are you sure that's wise? Did you even bring an apology tart to replace the one you ate?"
"Uh, no..." Ace got confused. "I came here first thing in the morning!"
"That could be a problem," Cater comments.
"This can't be good," I whisper to Deuce and he nods in agreement.
"Have you forgotten rule 53," Cater asks. "'Stolen items must be replaced'. If you're not in compliance, I can't let you in."
"Are you serious," Ace questions.
"All dorm residents must obey the rules," Cater tries to reason with Ace. "If I let you slide, it would be off with my head next! I hate to say it, Ace, but I'm gonna need you to leave before Riddle spots you. Thanx."
"I... think this guy is for real," Ace looks at us in concern. "You guys, do something!"
"I don't think that's very smart," I sigh. "You still are in the wrong."
"Why should WE do anything," Deuce frowns.
"C'mon, please," Ace pleads. "I can't use magic! Hurry, he's-"
"This is completely stupid," I say and prepare to be back up for Deuce.
After the fight...
Something isn't right. There's no way he should be in perfect condition after I landed a few hits on him. I wonder what kind of magic he uses. Could it be like a shield to avoid attacks or maybe something else.
"Do make sure you bring that tart next time, m'kay," Cater reminds Ace. "Buh-bye now!" We leave the rose maze.
"Was that guy for real," Ace frowns.
"We hit him over and over, but he just kept coming," Deuce thinks out loud. "Maybe he was using some kind of illusion magic!"
"So lemme get this straight," Ace fums. "We walked in there, totally tartless, but this dude still made us do that whole song and dance before throwing us out? He just wanted to make us paint his stupid roses!"
"We sure look like a bunch of chumps," Grim adds.
"I guess we'll just have to get an apology tart and come back. Maybe after class, we can—" Deuce looks at a rectangle box. "Oh no!"
"What's up, Deuce," I question.
"We already missed the first bell," Deuce exclaims. "We're gonna be late for class!"
"I don't wanna get a blemish on the first day of my glorious education," Grim shrieks. "Shake a leg, chumps! To the classroom, pronto!"
"Hey, so what class are you guys in, anyways," Ace questions. "You're freshman too, right?"
"The headmage said we're in Class 1-A," Grim answers.
"Can't we take this conversation on the road," I groaned.
"Hey, that's the same one I'm in," Deuce says. "We got Potionology for first period."
"Oh ho, yeah," Grim shouts in excitement. "That sounds awesome."
"M-maybe I don't need magic for that," Ace asks unsure.
"Who cares about that right now," I growled. "We should be heading to class!"
"Right," the guys agreed and we ran to the mirror and rushed to class.
A/n-
I have finally moved and unpacked, so I'm able to write more. I also found a way to get chapters out faster and will be trying it out. Thank you for reading! See ya in the next chapter!