A Queen and Her Kings

Unwanted Infamy and the King of Diamonds

"Why are we here?! You got rid of the collar, so I don't need to apologize to get off!", complained Ace. He and the rest of the Court were standing on the cobblestone pathway to the Heartslabyul dormitory. Cassandra side-eyed him.

"Because just because Rosehearts has no manners doesn't mean you should too. You ate a tart that was supposed to be for the rest of your dorm without thinking of the consequences, and even if Riddle was out of line, it shouldn't be omitted that you were as well.", Cassandra explained, admiring the beautiful dorm before her, with Grim doing the same from his place on her shoulder. Say what you will about wonderland's queen, but she at least had an interesting taste in architecture and landscaping.

"And you made a strawberry tart because...?", Deuce trailed off, wondering why his girlfriend (it still felt strange to think that) went through the trouble of plucking the ingredients out of the purple food bag and making a tart from scratch before they left. Cassandra only smiled at him.

"Because food is the universal peace offering. Back in New Orleans and the American south in general, we express our feelings through food. Someone passes? We send food to their loved ones. Someone gets married? Bring them a covered dish. Graduations? Birthdays? Holidays? School parties? Any remotely significant occasion? Bring a dessert, we're having a potluck. Also because Riddle sounds like a 'sorry isn't gonna cut it' type of guy. He'll want an eye for an eye, so we'll give him a tart for a tart.", Cassandra said, holding up the beautifully decorated tart, covered by a plastic top attached to a silver pie tin. You didn't grow up in one of the most culinarily cultured places in the world and not learn how to cook well enough to survive an episode of Hell's Kitchen. Or at least, that was how she thought it should be.

Brushing some imaginary lint off her jacket sleeves, Cassandra led the pack towards the dorm. Instead of her uniform, she and the other members of the unnamed dorm had opted to wear more casual clothes they had taken the liberty to purchase at Sam's shop (she could have made them later, but this was more convenient and quite frankly, she wanted to give the pretty shopkeep as much business as possible.) since they weren't attending classes today. She was wearing a red t-shirt with a black chinese dragon silhouette on the front, and over that, a black leather jacket with a large 'M' embroidered on the back in red, the font similar to what was used on her full family crest (that had to be commissioned, but Sam had given her a discount and it wasn't like money was an issue). She had on black jeans with a silver chain hooked on the right belt loops, and black combat boots with red laces. Around her neck, the key to the vault was clearly visible. She wore no makeup, save for some black eyeliner and red lip gloss. She had also taken the liberty of having Yue do her nails, which were painted with gel-like red nail polish that started light at the cuticle, before darkening to black at her naturally clawed tips, reminiscent of the fake blood her Uncle Kol liked to replace the transfusion bags in the fridge with to piss off her dad.

Ace and Deuce had been surprised by her intimidating style. They had only seen her in her uniform, PE clothes and ceremonial robes; they had yet to see her casual style. She assumed they must have thought that she wore suits for everything. The thought had made her chuckle. She had derived her formal style from her Uncle Elijah, yes, but her father had influenced her everyday fashion. Her mother and Aunt Rebekah had been disappointed, but didn't push the matter because she was happy with her fashion choices. Aunt Beks had nearly cried when she realized her days of stuffing her niece into cute outfits were over when her father bought Cassandra her first leather jacket at age five and she declared she would rather have her heart ripped out than wear a skirt.

That didn't mean the two first years didn't find her style sexy, however, if their red faces upon seeing her in her jeans were anything to go by. Cassandra grinned wolfishly at the thought.