"Thank you.", Malleus said as Cassandra handed him a steaming mug of coffee. He was sitting on one of the living room couches, sandwiched in between Lilia and Silver who both had their own mugs. They were the only non-residents still there, as everyone else had gone home after the 'incident'. Cassandra smiled at him, nodded and sat down on a plush chair in front of them.
"Sorry again about Ash, he's developed the unfortunate tendency of stabbing things he doesn't like due to his upbringing. That and I think he was kind of drunk... ", the redhead apologized once more. Ash, who was standing in the hall with his back leaned against the stair railing, flipped her off; but a stern look from her and a smack on the head from Eiji, who was walking up the stairs, made him put it down and return to his pouting. Lilia gave her a strained smile.
"Don't be, it wasn't your fault. Though, I have to ask, will Sebek be alright? I know the fork missed his jugular, but... ", the red eyed fae asked, concerned. Cassandra gave him a reassuring smile.
"He'll be fine, Yue is removing the fork as we speak.", she stated. In the kitchen, Sebek was laid out on the table, still unconscious. Yue was observing where the fork had been stabbed, and once he knew exactly what nerves the piece of cutlery was affecting, he nodded to Shorter, who held Sebek's shoulders down as the other boy gripped the fork tightly.
"Time to wake up, croc-boy!", Yue huffed as he yanked the fork out. Sebek shot up with a gasp, and Shorter was forced to jump back.
"LADY CASSANDRA!", the now conscious half-fae screamed as he reached a hand out for a girl that wasn't there. Both boys covered their ears with their hands and winced.
"This guy's got one hell of a set of lungs.", the purple haired boy muttered. Sebek began to look around in confusion, and Yue put his hands on his hips and scowled.
"Hey, tall green and loud, snap out of it!", the annoyed boy snapped. Sebek looked at him in surprise, and Yue continued.
"You've been out for half an hour. Ash stabbed you after you harassed Cassandra- ", the purple eyed boy explained. Sebek gasped and bolted into the living room.
"Lady Cassandra!", he yelled again. Shorter watched him run in fascination.
"He sure can move when he wants to... ", the boy mumbled.
Sebek came skidding into the living room, only mildly surprising everyone due to all the yelling. Then, much to Cassandra's mortification, he hit the floor and prostrated himself in front of her.
"Please forgive my foolishness!", he begged. Lilia and the others looked at him in exasperation, and Cassandra looked at him in embarrassment.
"You're fine Sebek, I was just a little startled by your actions. If anything, it's not you that should be sorry.", Cassandra consoled, before glaring at Ash, who was leaning against the stair railing with a scowl on his face. Everyone turned to look at him, and his scowl intensified.
"I'm not apologizing.", he stated. Cassandra glared harder at him, and Ash sighed.
"Ugh, fine; I'm sorry I stabbed you with a fork.", the blonde relented with extreme reluctance. Cassandra's glare disappeared and she nodded in approval, causing Ash's scowl to mellow out as well. Sebek got back on his feet and Ash's and Cassandra's eyes in embarrassment.
"Yes well, I once again apologize for my forwardness. I've been told I have a tendency to get over-excited by those around me. I assure you, this will never happen again.", the yellow-green eyed boy vowed in a meek tone, a shocking show of shyness that shocked his dormmates. Cassandra stood up and walked up to him, taking his chin into her hand and turning his head gently towards her. The redhead gave him a reassuring smile, and Sebek blushed furiously.
"It's fine, Sebek. You've apologized, now stop acting so nervous. That's no way to act in the presence of a friend.", she said, her smile widening. Sebek nodded, and much to his displeasure, Cassandra removed her hand from his face and went into the kitchen. Everyone watched her leave and return with a roll of gauze, which she then wrapped around Sebek's neck. Once she was done, she backed away and gave him a fond smile.
"Your neck was bleeding.", she stated, and Sebek's blush became one of embarrassment when he realized she was right.
"O-oh. Right.", he coughed awkwardly. How had he not noticed he was bleeding? One look at the gorgeous woman in front of him gave him his answer. Oh yes, how could he be concerned with something as trivial as an injury when his Lady was standing right in front of him. How foolish of him. Sebek was torn from his musings when his young master stood up and walked over to their soulmate.
"This has been a most eventful night, Cassandra, and we are grateful for your hospitality, but I'm afraid we must take our leave.", the imposing prince announced with a frown, more than a bit jealous of Sebek. Cassandra looked up at him and nodded with a smile.
"Of course, I'll show you out.", she said, and the four men in the living room followed her into the mud room. Once they reached the door, they took a moment to say their goodbyes.
"I hope the chaos of tonight hasn't made you warry to return.", Cassandra said in a pleading tone of voice. Malleus gave a deep, rumbling laugh, similar to her own.
"Hardly! I had a wonderful time. I just wish I had the chance to speak with you more; we barely managed to have a conversation over the course of the night.", the horned man said in a slightly disappointed voice. Cassandra smiled up at him.
"Then you will. You all are welcome to return for a visit whenever you like, but that reminds me, what were you trying to ask me earlier? It seemed awfully important.", the golden eyed girl tilted her head in question. Malleus and the others began to sweat.
Should he tell her? They had thought that telling her as soon as possible would be the best course of action, but maybe Sebek's interruption was a blessing in disguise. They had only known her a few weeks, and Malleus had only just met her that day. Springing the whole concept of soulmates on her so abruptly might not end well. She was a free spirit, and she might end up resenting them if they make it seem like she has no choice.
All four of them quickly exchanged a look, and they all came to a new consensus. They would get closer to Cassandra, and wait until they all thought time was right to tell her. With this in mind, Malleus smiled and answered her question.
"I wanted to know if you would be so kind as to allow me to wander your grounds at my leisure. I used to love taking walks here when this dorm was still abandoned. I took comfort in the solitude, and while I can no longer find that here, I believe I have found a new thing to find comfort in.", Malleus swiftly not-so-lied with a smirk. Cassandra blinked and raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"And what would that be?", she asked. Malleus's smirk widened, and he got dangerously close to Cassandra's face with a fang-filled grin. Most would have found his smile terrifying, but Cassandra found it charming.
"You of course, Beasty.", he answered, and the nickname made Cassandra's eyes go wide in recognition, but she said nothing about it as she answered the green eyed man in front of her.
"You are free to visit whenever you please, and that goes for the rest of you as well. Wonder free on your own or come find me, I'll be more than happy to accompany you.", the girl said with a warm smile. All four of the men in front of her returned it.
"We will have to take you up on that offer. Take care, Cassandra.", Malleus said with a nod in final farewell, and like that all four of them left out the door. Once it shut behind them, Shorter came into the hallway from the kitchen and crossed his arms.
"Well, that was a disaster.", he stated bluntly. Cassandra smirked.
"Not entirely... ", she said cryptidly, before walking upstairs to her room, leaving a blinking Shorter in her wake. He scratched his head.
"I can never tell what's going on in that head of her's... ", he mumbled.
—--------------------------------------------------
"You've named your dorm?", Cater asked in surprise as he ate his spaghetti. It was lunch on Monday, and it was just Cassandra, Cater, Trey, Ace and Deuce at the large round table. Griffin had skipped lunch in favor of gardening with Yue, Ash was hanging out with Eiji back at the dorm, Shorter was napping in his room after getting an early start on dinner, Kalim was busy studying for a quiz with Jamil, and Skipper was playing with Grim in the woods near the athletic green. Cassandra blinked at the orange-red haired man in startelement.
"Well, yeah. What, did you just think we were gonna keep calling our dorm the 'unnamed dorm' forever?", she asked rhetorically. Cater nodded slowly from his place on her left, beside Trey. Cassandra sighed and ran a hand down her face.
"Cay, no. Why would we go through all the trouble of filling out paperwork, persuading Crowley, and erecting a fucking statue, just to not name the dorm?", the golden eyed girl once again asked rhetorically. Cater shrugged and took another bite of his spaghetti.
"I don't know, doesn't 'the unnamed dorm' sound kinda cool, though? Like, it sounds super mysterious. I mean, it's way better than what we used to call it- !", he laughed, only to be cut off by a mortified Trey covering his mouth with his hand. Cassandra's face went neutral and she raised an eyebrow.
"What did you used to call it?", she asked as she sipped her b positive out of her sparkly vampire themed tumbler and took a bite of her chili. Trey removed his hand, and both he and Cater laughed nervously.
"Ramshackle... ", the green eyed third year admitted nervously. Cassandra thought about it and shrugged as she continued eating.
"Eh, could be worse.", she said. Trey and Cater raised their eyebrows, looking at each other in confusion, before they looked back at their girlfriend.
"What's a worse name than Ramshackle?", Trey asked. Cassandra shrugged and barely spared them a glance.
"'Piece of Shit Dorm that Crowley Refuses to Fix', for one. Say, why didn't you guys tell me what it used to be called?", she answered, then asked. Trey shrugged and crossed his arms.
"We didn't think it was important since people stopped using the name after you showed up. Also, we were kinda scared you would get mad. You're really scary when you're mad.", the green haired man answered in slight terror. Cassandra saw no reason to refute his words, and so changed the subject.
"So anyways, in honor of my hometown and our dorm's founder, I've decided to name the dorm... Roivoodorus.", the redhead announced with a smile, pausing for dramatic effect. The four boys at the table all looked confused.
"The hell is a 'Roivoodorus'?", Deuce asked. Cassandra frowned and sighed.
"It's not a 'what' Deuce, it's a play on words. 'Roi' is French for king; Dr. Facilier was a known 'voodoo king' in his day. 'Voodorus' is just a nonsense word I made up that sounds like the word 'voodoo' and vaguely latin. That's it.", the girl explained. Deuce nodded in understanding, and Trey and Cater didn't seem confused anymore, but Ace still looked skeptical.
"Still, it sounds kinda weird. I mean, why make up a word when you can just use one that already exists?", the red eyed boy asked. Cassandra looked at him with a deadpan expression, put her cup and fork down, crossed her arms and looked him dead in the eyes.
"Ace, let me ask you some very fair questions; do you even know what a 'Labyul' is? What about a 'Vinelle'? Is Scarabia a word? What about Ignihyde? Diasomnia?", she asked. Ace opened his mouth to speak, thought about it, then closed it. He stayed silent, and Cassandra nodded.
"I rest my case.", she said with an air of finality. Cater raised an eyebrow.
"What about Savanaclaw and Pomefiore?", he asked. Cassandra waved him off and shrugged.
"Pomefiore is just the bastardized french phrase for 'apple flower' and Savanaclaw is made up of actual words, even if it is just a name ripoff of Ravenclaw.", Cassandra replied, muttering the last bit to herself so no one would hear. Ace, as it turned out, did hear her muttering, and began to look even more confused.
"Huh?", he asked.
"Huh?", Cassandra echoed, pretending she hadn't heard him. Cater spoked next.
"So, since you've named it and have a statue now, does that mean you've designed a custom dorm uniform and sigil? All the dorms have one, and you'll need one to be seen as legit.", he stated. Cassandra sighed and shook her head.
"Sigil yes, uniform no. I sketched out some ideas with Sam, but they're just that; ideas. They never went any further. Between what happened at the mines and with Riddle, I never found the time to design let alone make several high-quality personalized uniforms.", the redhead tiredly lamented. With all the running around she had been doing on top of her school work, she was in desperate need of a true, uninterrupted break. Cater, seeing his girlfriend's weariness, decided to lighten her load a bit.
"You know, if you want uniforms made, you should go to Professor Crewel. He does fashion design on the side as a hobby, and he does student uniforms for free. My blazer was a size too big my freshman year, and he fixed it so quickly and efficiently I almost forgot it was ever too big in the first place.", he suggested in a cheerful voice as he placed a comforting hand on his girlfriend's back. Much to his dismay, Cassandra began to look even more stressed.
"Yeah, I don't think Crewel likes me.", she bluntly admitted with tired eyes. Cater started to look confused.
"What, why?", he asked. Cassandra sighed and laid her head down on top of her folded arms on the table, eyes and mouth just barely peeking out so she could see in front of her and be heard clearly.
"He keeps glaring at me like I'm the bane of his existence in class and coming up to me at random times to ask me random-ass questions like 'how was the homework?' and 'are you adjusting alright?'. It's weird and I don't know how to feel about it.", the golden eyed girl grumbled. Everyone looked at her in bafflement.
"I think it's normal for teachers to ask about your wellbeing because they, ya know, care?", Deuce said, sounding a bit questioning due to his less than stellar experiences with teachers in the past. Cassandra narrowed her eyes at him.
"I know that! I have a prior education, albeit it was mostly via tutors and family members! But it's still weird, right!? I know he's being weird because Trein never does that! He has a private conversation with me like a normal person!", she rebuked defensively. Deuce raised his hands in surrender, knowing he couldn't win against his cranky girlfriend. Ace, however, began to look more understanding.
"The glaring thing isn't just you though. I see it too, and it's not directed at me, Deuce or anyone else that sits near you. It's at you specifically, so what's his problem?", the redhead asked from his place on the girl's right, beside Deuce. Cassandra shrugged and sat up in her chair.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out; either way, I need him to make the uniforms, so I'll just figure it out then.", the girl said with a sigh. Then, Cater picked up his phone and unsilenced his notifications. He was then bombarded with a seemingly endless foray of 'ding!'s and bells. Everyone at the table looked at him, and after a few moments, the green eyed man turned the still resounding notifications back off and faced Cassandra with a tired laugh.
"Babe, I have a problem; I think I girlbossed too hard.", he said in a depressed voice. Cassandra smiled at his antics and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?", she said, prompting him to elaborate. Cater sighed and did just that.
"I-I told Yue after Ace royally fucked up the dinner party- ", he started to say, and was briefly cut off by Ace's exasperated cry of "I said I was sorry!". This did little to deter him and Cater soon continued.
" -that I would help him with his emails, and now I have a real job, with real responsibilities, and people keep texting me asking questions that I don't know the answer to, and I'm really just stressed out. I don't want to girlboss anymore.", he said with a slight sob, burying his face in the crook of Cassandra's shoulder. The tan skinned girl chuckled and ran her fingers through his soft hair.
"Aw, poor baby... ", she cooed. Trey rolled his eyes at his friend's dramatics, and Ace and Deuce both pouted in slight jealousy. After a few minutes, Cater lifted his head up.
"What should I do?", he asked Cassandra, who chuckled again.
"Well, for starters, tell Yue the emails are all his again. He hates working with other people like this, so he probably just gave the work to you either to make you suffer, or to make you leave him alone, then change your number and send us the new one.", she instructed. Cater sighed and nodded.
"Kay.", he agreed, an embarrassed blush on his face as he took out his phone to do just that. How had he not picked up on Yue's intentions? That was the last time he tried to ask him to use his mascara...
Cassandra laughed, and after Cater had done everything she told him to do with lightning speed, she and the others all got up to throw away their food trash just as the bell rang. As they were doing this, Cassandra realized something.
"Hey, where's Riddle?", she asked no one in particular. No one told her where he was earlier. Trey threw his stuff away as he answered her.
"He said he had to deal with a 'situation'... ", the green haired man trailed off, not sure how to finish his sentence. Cassandra raised an eyebrow.
"What kind of situation?", she asked. Trey avoided her gaze and bit his lip.
"Uhhh..."
—-----------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, at Heartslabyul
Riddle looked at the scene before him with tired eyes, both awed and distressed by what he was seeing. Two embarrassed, mousy brown haired first years stood behind him. Riddle sighed, counted to ten, and turned back to face the two with one hand on his hip, and the other gesturing to the anomaly behind him.
"Okay, I've been chill with a lot of things lately. I've stopped enforcing the admittedly dumber rules, and I'm not trying to be a control freak. But this? How do you even do this?!", Riddle yelled, more confused and tired than he was mad.
They stood in front of the hedgehog habitats, which were currently empty because all the hedgehogs were just outside of it, stuck together in one big, multi-colored, squeaking ball of distress slightly bigger than Riddle. One of the first years raised a finger and opened his mouth to answer, but Riddle cut him off with narrowed eyes.
"Don't answer that.", he ordered. The first year's arm went down and he went back to staring at the ground. Riddle sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Just fix this; use magic, I don't care, just make it happen. I expect- Rosa?!", the redhead ordered exasperatedly, only to gasp in shock when he heard a familiar squeak from the hedgehog ball. He ran over to it, and looked around until he found the squirming form of an unusually small, red hedgehog the color of his hair. Riddle looked at her in concern.
"Don't worry, I'll get you out of there!", the boy promised. He grabbed onto the animal with his gloved hands, pulling on her for several long moments until she was pulled free with a loud squeak, sending Riddle flying back onto his rear.
"Rosa, are you okay?!", the redhead yelled as got his bearings and looked down at the small hedgehog in his arms, who was squeaking in pain. He gasped when he saw the cause of her distress was a cut paw.
"Poor thing, did those mean first years hurt you?", he cooed at Rosa as he stood up, cradling her in his arms not unlike how Cassandra cradled Grim. Rosa kept squeaking, and Riddle looked down at her with all the compassion one would have when they looked at their own child. He then glared at the two first years who caused this mess, all the compassion gone from his eyes.
"How could you two let this happen?! This is the last time I let either of you feed the hedgehogs! I would behead you if I didn't want this fixed as soon as possible, and I wasn't trying to stop doing that often! I am going to treat poor Rosa, and you two are going to have this mess fixed by the time I return! Now, if you'll excuse me!", Riddle yelled indignantly as he gave the first years an icy look and stomped off, Rosa cradled gently in his hands. Once he was out of sight back on the cobblestone road to the dormitory, Riddle's walk became more brisk than angry and he began to grumble under his breath with a worried scowl as he looked down at Rosa.
"Don't worry Rosa, we'll get you bandaged up and you'll be- !", he started to say to comfort the animal, but was soon cut off the the obnoxious laughter of four of his third years as they passed him.
"I still can't believe you attacked Mikaelson!", one of them yelled in awe. Riddle froze. Another one with his hands behind his head smirked.
"Yeah, she sicked her lapdog Spade on us before we could do any damage, but we'll get her back eventually!", he said in an unpleasant voice as they all continued walking back to the dorm. Riddle's face went frigid and his bangs covered his eyes. Without a word, he gently put Rosa in his right blazer pocket, patted her head twice, and glared at the shrinking forms of the third years from over his shoulder.
"Sit tight, Rosa. Daddy just needs to deal with some delinquents.", he comforted as he pulled his magic pen out of his pocket.
He refused to let this go unpunished.
Here's the latest update. The idea of Riddle utterly babying his favorite hedgehog and naming it something cute is adorable to me, and the concept of Cassandra roasting the other dorms for their names is hilarious. Today is the one year anniversary of me starting this fic! We are 277,000 words in, and we... aren't even a quarter of the way through. Ouch. Strap yourselves in kids, this gonna be a long ride. Next time, more Rosa and funny conversations!
So long and Goodnight, Thackery Binx.