Cater never forgot the day Riddle went into Overblot, or the mess caused by Ace pushing things too far because of his idiocy. He had mellowed out after graduation, but as a freshman he was a dumbass.
That was why Cater made a point of being there for the Unbirthday party. Yuna had told him of Ace being beheaded (which Cater knew he completely deserved), and how Trey had tossed him out because he hadn't brought a replacement for the one he ate. However Trey was willing to work with Ace to make a replacement one to soothe Riddle's anger.
Cater had very little sympathy for Ace. He had been an insensitive jerk who was more than old enough to understand what a communal fridge was for and should have asked before eating anything inside.
He already had to have that talk with Grim about that before the cat got any ideas, which Yuna appreciated. Grim at least respected that he had to ask permission first, but that the snacks left in special bowls on the counter were free for anyone to take within reason.
Well, so long as he didn't eat all of them. Cater had no issue with Grim clearing out their stash of jerky since Vil barely tolerated them to begin with. Besides, it gave the trio an excuse to hunt for more animals on the weekend to make a fresh batch...which was the only reason Vil tolerated it's presence in the dorm.
Cater mostly hung back, until he heard Ace preparing to challenge Riddle for the position of housewarden. Crowley was there to make it official, which really pissed him off.
He remembered the scene vividly, and took a good long look at Riddle's spell pen.
It was just as dark as it was that day, and he'd be damned if he let the mistake of before happen again.
Without a word, he pushed past the other students and promptly scooped Riddle up and threw him over his shoulder.
"Cater, what are you doing?!" shouted Riddle, red faced.
"Kidnapping you," said Cater cheerfully. "And frankly, you need a better vice housewarden if things have escalated to this point."
Trey blinked at that.
With a minor smoke spell, Cater absconded with Riddle entirely.
Riddle was not happy and made his opinion clear on the matter. Right up until Cater dumped him on the bed in the nurse's office.
"Mr. Diamond. May I ask why you dragged Mr. Rosehearts all the way to my domain?" asked the doctor.
"Can you run a diagnostic spell on him please?" said Cater. "I'm disgusted Clover didn't notice the issue before it spiraled out of control."
Now thoroughly confused, and a little curious, the doctor did so. His eyebrows nearly went up past his hairline in shock, before he began casting more spells in panic. The doctor's reaction was enough to settle Riddle down, because now he realized something was terribly wrong.
"Mr. Diamond, I am heartily glad you brought him to my attention. This would have been a disaster!"
"Crowley was there, and was about to openly encourage a freshman to challenge him for his position as housewarden during an Unbirthday party," said Cater.
The doctor looked absolutely furious at this knowledge, and Cater was rather gleeful that Crowley would be getting quite the earful.
"What's going on?" asked Riddle. He was still upset, but he wasn't about to blow his top like before.
"Do you know what an Overblot is?" asked Cater.
"Of course I do! It's when a mage accumulates more blot than the magestone can handle and their emotions run rampant to the point they lose control of their magic!" said Riddle.
"Well Trey was so busy dealing with the little brush fires that were your dorm mates that he neglected to see the wildfire growing under his feet that is your magestone," deadpanned Cater. "I knew something was terribly wrong when I saw how dark it was, and considering what an idiot Ace has been all week, him challenging you like he did would have almost certainly sent you into an Overblot. Considering how powerful you are and the amount of people present, that would have been a major disaster."
The shock on Riddle's face was clear as day. He looked at his pen and paled when he realized Cater wasn't joking in the least.
He didn't argue over being placed under restricted spell use until the blot cleared up. Or that he would be staying in Pomefiore until the doctor deemed him safe to use magic again.
To be fair, he needed a chance to relax and cool off. Ace's behavior during an already stressful week had really driven him over the edge, especially with all the trouble he caused that Riddle was responsible for. It was bad enough he dragged Deuce into it as well!
Three hours later...
Vil's eyebrows went up in disbelief. However he said nothing about Riddle sharing Cater's room until he was cleared again. Overblot was not a laughing matter in the least, and it gave him time to come up with a plan of attack to deal with the nonsense his dorm mates had been pulling.
Cater had made very, very sure Rook had told Trey exactly how close to disaster they had been.
Perhaps it was petty, but he felt some vindication that Riddle fully planned to drop Trey as vice housewarden and force Ace into the spot instead. If he wanted to be housewarden that badly he could damn well earn it the hard way.
Ace wouldn't like it one bit, but he had created the bulk of this mess and it would be his punishment. Not only would he have to follow the rules to the letter, but he would have to reign everyone else in.
Cater was about to head inside when he sensed someone nearby. Imagine his surprise seeing the cat beastkin wearing RSA colors.
"...You're Che'nya, right?" he asked.
"Yup. I came to check on how Riddle is doing. He looked pretty pale when you kidnapped him," said Che'nya.
Cater was all for letting the cat beastkin in, rival school or no.
"Try to stay invisible and I'll take you to him. He could definitely use some friends right now, especially with how callous Trey was being."
Cater had asked (Ace and Deuce confirming this) and apparently Trey was the one who put the idea of challenging Riddle into Ace's head in the first place. Riddle was devastated hearing this fact, for multiple reasons.
Riddle looked ready to cry seeing Che'nya there, and only broke down when Che'nya hugged him. Leaving the two alone for some privacy, Cater went to visit Vil.
"Trey put the idea of a challenge into the freshman's head?" said Vil aghast. Even Rook looked shocked. "Riddle has always been high strung, but to openly plan a coup like that during an important event is beyond the pale."
"The fact he didn't even pay attention to how dark Riddle's pen was is alarming in itself. Rather than confront Riddle directly, he tried to make an idiot freshman do it for him," said Cater shaking his head.
"How is Riddle doing?" asked Vil, honestly concerned.
"His real friend from the RSA is with him," said Cater. Che'nya was a pest at times, but harmless.
Riddle looked much, much better when Cater came to check on him. Che'nya looked disinclined to leave, so Cater discreetly gave him a spare uniform to borrow that was about his size. So long as he looked like a student no one was likely to comment about his presence. It was early enough in the week that most would assume he was a freshman or something.
"OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!"
Absolute shock. That was the only way to describe the reaction the Heartsabyl students had to seeing their very pissed off Housewarden beheading his second in command.
The fact Cater was beside him (for support) did not help.
"It's bad enough you didn't see how dangerously close to snapping he was...but to openly plan a coup on an Unbirthday party? That's just beyond the pale," said Cater calmly.
"What?" said Trey, shocked.
"Trey, as of this moment I am stripping you of your position as Vice Housewarden. Since Trappola is so eager to take my place at your goading, he will be taking over."
"What?!" squawked Ace in shock.
"What's this about?" said Trey, completely bewildered.
"The reason I kidnapped Riddle the way I did was because I saw how dark his spell pen was. I knew it wasn't normal so I took him directly to the infirmary. The doctor confirmed that if Ace had gone through with his challenge, he would have almost certainly gone into Overblot," said Cater flatly.
Dead silence as this sunk in. Heartsabyl was full of students since Riddle had made damn sure no one had to drop out due to grades. It was extremely full, and attendance to an Unbirthday party was mandatory. With how strong Riddle was, him going into Overblot would have been an unmitigated disaster, particularly since the party was always held far from the travel mirror and any real escape routes. Add in the fact Riddle specialized in fire magic and was in the middle of a maze made of easily flammable material... several students began to pale at the idea.
Riddle looked to Ace.
"You still owe the dorm a tart, and I'll accept a store bought one," he told Ace.
Ace nodded dumbly, still in shock at how things were turning out.
"Wait, what did you mean earlier when you said that Trey goaded another student into challenging you?" asked one of the rabbit beastmen.
"Trey-sempai told us about how Riddle became housewarden, and Ace went to Crowley a few hours later so he could make the challenge official," said Deuce. "That's why he was there at the party last week."
Trey might have had some sympathy to his new plight and being stripped of his rank, but that was gone now. Learning he had deliberately given a freshman known for causing trouble information that could have lead to a disaster made him an unofficial pariah in his own dorm.
Cater had zero sympathy for the jerk. It was bad enough that he was indirectly responsible for Riddle's Overblot, but the fact he hadn't even bothered to check on him once made it worse. Riddle did remember most of the potion accident, and Trey had never visited him. The main reason Che'nya had this time was because he had been present to see his friend being kidnapped, and was surprised to hear about the previous incident as Trey had never told him anything.
Ace managed to secure a new tart (not a chestnut one) from Sam's shop, which at least cleared him regarding his previous offense.
He was still stuck taking on Trey's duties, since Riddle was serious about that part.
Two days later...
"So what exactly happened between Rosehearts and Clover?" asked Azul.
And it was clear something had happened, because Trey was already quietly making inquiries about switching dorms.
"Trey," Vil bit out the name with some venom, "Attempted to lead a coup against his housewarden...without even noticing the fact that Riddle was dangerously close to snapping and taking the whole dorm with him."
That got everyone's attention rather quickly, as Riddle was incredibly tight lipped about the subject. He was also seeing the same therapist Cater himself went to, which was why he was missing today. Cater had gone with him for support, since Riddle found it easier to talk about his issues with him around than alone.
"That bad?" said Kalim upset.
"Riddle stripped Trey of his position the second he was allowed to use magic again, and put the freshman who had caused all the trouble in his place. Since he's so eager to take over as the housewarden, he'll have to learn what's actually required of the post before Riddle hands it over to him in a few years."
The fact Ace was certain to hate every second of it was just bonus, in Vil's opinion. The idiot had gotten himself into that mess, and now he'd have to lie in it. The fact he would have to mature a bit made it even better.
Trey had been coasting entirely too long on the fact he was Riddle's childhood friend, and now it had firmly come to bite him in the ass.
