A Queen and Her Kings

A Pining Idiot and Deuce Throws Hands

Cassandra looked at the six, heaping buckets of chestnuts in front of her with a deadpan expression. Her and the others were still in the forest, and they had just finished picking the nuts. Looking to the group of sheepish students on her right, she sighed.

"I told you we only needed two buckets, not six. What in heaven's name possessed you to pick three times that?", the tribrid hissed. The young men in front of her sighed.

"We're sorry.", they all said in unison. Rubbing her temples, Cassandra looked to Trey, who jumped a bit at having all the girl's attention suddenly on him.

"I know what else we need for the tart and I'll go pick it up at the store. The guys will take you and Cater back to the dorm. I give you full creative freedom to figure out what we're going to do with the extra chestnuts so long as you don't waste them. Deuce, come with me so you can help me carry the bags.", was all she said as she took Deuce by the hand and led him back towards the school's mirror chamber, all the while he was blushing like an idiot.

'She-she's holding my hand!', he thought, feeling his face go hot. As soon as the thought came, however, he shook it out of his head.

'Of course she's holding your hand, you idiot! She's your girlfriend!', he thought with a grimace. Just then, Cassandra perked up. Her girlfriend senses were tingling.

'Why do I get the feeling Deuce just insulted himself?', she asked herself. As soon as she thought this, she turned back to face the navy haired boy in question with a stern expression, causing him to jump. Oh Seven, what had he done now?!

"Deuce, ", Cassandra started, causing Deuce to gulp. "You are not an idiot. You are extremely smart and kind. Stop thinking that.", she said in a tone as stern as her expression, before she quickly checked to see if they were alone on the trail, and pecked his lips. Deuce was shocked.

'How did she know?!', he thought in bewilderment. Due to all of this, he did not notice that they had long passed through the mirror gate and had arrived at the shop door. Not releasing her lover's hand, she opened the creaky door and made a point to avoid the uneven floorboard she had tripped over the last time she was here as she made her way over to the counter. The tribrid looked around in confusion when she saw that no-one was there.

"Sam! Sam, are you here?!", she called out, wondering where the pretty shopkeep could be. Just as she was about to shrug and say that the shop was likely closed, a slightly disheveled Sam came barreling through the backroom door.

"Oh-uh-hey, Cassandra! You're here! ... why are you here?", the magenta eyed shopkeep said in a voice slightly higher than his usual tone, sounding as if he dreaded her answer to the last part of his sentence. Cassandra frowned.

"What happened to you? You look awful.", she said, sounding concerned. Sam laughed nervously.

"Oh, me? I'm fine! I just-uh... didn't get a lot of sleep last night.", 'because of you', he wanted to tack on, but he wasn't about to explain why that was. The voodoo priest could hear the slight rattling of the backroom door and shuffled to the side a bit, trying to hide the door from view. This didn't work, because a curious and slightly confused Cassandra and Deuce were looking over the sweating man's shoulder.

"Oh, well, if you're tired, we can come back later-", the girl suggested, but that caused Sam to panic.

"NO!", he yelled loudly, and now both first years were blinking at him in bewilderment. Internally, Sam was spontaneously combusting.

'Change the subject, CHANGE THE SUBJECT!', he screamed in his head, before he thought on his feet and laughed nervously again.

"I mean... there's no need for that! I can close up and take a nap after you have what you need, just tell me what it is and I'll get it for you!", Sam said with a slight crack in his voice, causing Cassandra to raise a suspicious eyebrow and Deuce to just keep staring at him. All the while, the door was still rattling. The voodoo master was clearly hiding something, but so long as it wasn't dangerous to him or anyone else, Cassandra wasn't going to pry. Sighing, the tribrid shrugged and sighed.