Green eyes blinked in confusion as he registered the familiar, if half forgotten vision of wood in front of him. Hearing the soft click of a key being turned, he found himself in a scene he hadn't seen in over a decade.
Cater went through the motions, as his time at Night Raven College had been some of the best days of his life. One of the few good memories he still had.
He stood before the mirror and waited for it to send him to Heartsabyl like it had before.
"The shape of your soul is...Pomefiore!"
Cold shock. He moved on autopilot, wondering what sort of surreal dream was happening right now. The first chance he had, he checked the date on his phone.
And nearly dropped it in shock. His screen read the day of the ceremony alright...except it was ten years in the past.
As he put on the Pomefiore uniform, which felt so different from the Heartsabyl one (the material alone was of higher quality), he weighed his options.
This felt a bit too real to be a dream, and if it was, then he planned to make his annoyance known in spades to the bastard behind it.
But...if he really was in the past for Seven knew what reason, then he was going to make the most of it.
So much had gone wrong after he left NRC that there was no way in hell he was letting it happen twice.
Cater came to terms with the fact he was definitely in the past after about a week or so. It was surreal as hell, but he honestly wasn't complaining.
On the plus side, he got to watch a certain male model he had always admired from afar properly.
He was painfully aware he was out of Vil's league, but it was nice to be sharing the same classes as him again because it gave him plenty of ammunition for later. Even better, they were sharing the same dorm so now Vil had even less excuses to avoid being in the same room as him.
Cater held his ticket to a better future with great care. The digital camera and his new laptop (well, mostly new) didn't look like much, but with it he could earn a steady living that didn't involve minimum wage or living paycheck to paycheck.
He was a decent shot at photography, but the camera and laptop would allow him to edit freely and send his work to people in the business. He was sure Vil could at least point him in the right direction for people who were interested in freelancers trying to earn money that didn't involve tabloid work.
It was the only expenditure he'd make using that particular account. He was sure his mother was going to be beyond pissed once she figured out he had closed the accounts. It had been beyond tricky, arranging things so that almost the entirety of his trust fund would be tied up in long term investments...but the long term benefit was well worth it.
For one thing, his mother couldn't access any of the actual trust unless it was in the bank account she had joint access to, since Cater had been a child when it was set up.
Adjusting it so that his trust fund was used to pay for his long term investments was a pain, but well worth it since it meant he could close that account and never have to worry about his mother having access to any of it.
The way she had utterly screwed him over with frivolous things his sisters didn't even need had pissed him off, and cemented the fact she would never see him as family. Worse, there was no way to recoup the lost money after the fact because she was allowed access to the account.
To be fair, he never anticipated his mother would drain the accounts the very day he turned eighteen to the point he had to scrimp and save just to graduate the NRC. And even then, he had to get a crappy minimum wage job because college loans ate up any real money he made.
This time around, the first thing he did was pay off the entire sum of his education. The trust fund more than covered it and then some. The rest he invested heavily in things he remembered Kalim mentioning a time or two when the subject was brought up during club activities. Businesses he knew were safe investments because Kalim's family had invested in them as well and had some of Kalim's personal fortune tied into it.
Cater had a slight smile on his face, holding that cheap digital camera.
He put it through the paces over the weekend, catching all sorts of candid shots and saving them to his laptop.
Oddly enough, he kept catching pictures of Rook when he wasn't even looking for the guy. Very weird.
After the fifth time, Cater began to sigh in annoyance whenever he accidentally busted Rook being a stalker. Seriously, didn't he have anything better to do with his time than to stalk random students out of boredom?
Finally Cater had enough after Rook's presence ruined yet another candid shot of a random Savanaclaw student.
Which was why he decided the best move he could make would be to confront the hunter directly.
"Rook, I know you're bored, but do you really have to keep hiding in such obvious spots?" said Cater with a sigh.
"Roi du Camera, I have no idea what you mean!" said Rook, smiling broadly.
Cater raised an eyebrow, mostly because he was so used to Rook calling him "Monsieur MagiCam".
"You do realize that over a third of the shots I've taken with my new camera have you hiding in the background, right?" said Cater dryly.
Rook blinked.
Cater pulled out his camera, and showed it to him.
Rook's eyebrows went up in disbelief and no small amount of professional shock as Cater correctly identified his hiding spots, and the small tells of his presence in the photo.
"You truly have sharp eyes and good senses! It's been some time since anyone has given me a proper challenge!" said Rook with delight. Then his expression turned mischievous. "Are you planning to post any of the candid photos you've taken of Roi du Poison?"
Cater went pale.
"Don't be ridiculous. He'd almost certainly kick my ass for daring to post any these...besides, they're not worth sharing," said Cater.
Rook begged to differ. Cater had truly captured Vil's best side, even if the photos themselves were done with subpar equipment. More importantly was the fact that as far as Rook could tell, Vil had no idea Cater had taken said pictures.
"Tell me Roi du Camera...have you ever tried learning how to hunt?" said Rook, a gleam in his eyes.
Rook would openly admit his delight when Cater took him up on the suggestion of learning how to properly stalk and hunt, to improve the quality of his photos. Cater truly had a knack for capturing people in his photographs.
Some time later...
Rook's offer had been a surprise, but considering his options, Cater wasn't about to turn down the idea of learning how to catch his own food.
He remembered vividly going hungry for days on end because his paycheck wouldn't be due till the end of the week and he had eaten what little he could afford in his cabinets.
Being able to hunt for his food would allow him to stretch his supplies and it was relatively free to boot. He couldn't afford to be picky.
He was somewhat surprised he had a natural inclination to archery...but perhaps it wasn't that surprising. He was able to pick out most of the targets Rook used, it was just that his body wasn't used to drawing a bow and letting the arrow fly.
Since that was more about muscle memory and practice, practice, practice, Cater didn't let his failures bother him much. Even if he disliked waking up that early.
He wondered if his Split Card could let him figure it out a bit faster...clones didn't exactly need to sleep, after all.
Professor Trein shot a certain ginger an annoyed look. Normally, he had to deal with the occasional student falling asleep in class, but with Cater Diamond, his annoyance stemmed from another source.
At first he had thought he had imagined it, and after the second time he had politely ignored it...but this was the third day in a row, and he was not about to allow this to continue.
"Diamond, a word," said Trein, looking less than amused.
Cater sighed and once class was over walked over to the desk.
"Diamond, I am aware your close proximity to Schoeinhiet may lead to some...jealousy, but that is no excuse to go days on end without eating out of some mistaken idea of what a diet is," he said sternly.
Cater stared at him, mostly in amused disbelief.
"Wait...you think my growling stomach is from a ridiculous diet?" he said.
Professor Trein stared him down.
"I have no patience for diets and honestly the only reason my stomach is growling is because I'm too broke to afford breakfast most mornings. I can barely afford lunch," said Cater, shaking his head in disbelief.
Trein's expression softened. Skipping meals for a stupid diet was one thing, but a broke college student was another.
"There are a few fruit bearing trees in the gardens that students are allowed to pick from, but there is a set limit to how much you are permitted to take per week. The fairies are rather strict in enforcing it. I suggest asking Professor Crewel if you could be permitted to assist in tending them, as the fairies are a bit more lenient."
Cater was a bit surprised, but it made sense. The fresh fruits the school got had to come from somewhere, so it made since they'd source it locally considering they had an enclosed garden for potion ingredients.
As Cater was dismissed, he failed to notice the odd look in Professor Trein's eyes.
The resemblance to his younger sister was striking, though that begged the question of whether she had been honest about losing her youngest child when he took his two nieces in temporarily.
Rook had to admit, he didn't expect his friend to be so...attentive when he showed him the best way to lay snares and other traps to catch small game.
"Do you enjoy hunting?" asked Rook. Cater was a diligent student, and seemed to improve leaps and bounds in a short amount of time.
"Not really. I prefer to capture my prey with a camera rather than a snare," admitted Cater. "However I am tolerably good at preparing wild game for food."
"Oh?" said Rook with interest. Few people (outside of beastkin) knew how to properly prepare freshly caught game to eat. And those that did often butchered it to the point it was barely edible and ruined the flavor.
Cater went silent, as a small rabbit came into the clearing they were using. Rook didn't need any queues, as the two watched the creature wander over to the snare.
Rook was rather pleased when the bunny was successfully caught in the snare, and Cater showed zero issue in putting the creature out of it's misery.
He was even more impressed after handing Cater a sharper knife than the one he used to make a snare, and Cater began prepping the rabbit out of what could only be long practice.
Rook had little doubt that Cater would be eating rabbit stew later tonight, and for the next few days as well.
Vil wandered into the kitchen to make a snack, and was surprised to find Rook and Cater chatting while cutting up what appeared to be wild game.
"What is that?" said Vil.
"Rabbit. You'd be surprised where you'd find these things," said Cater absently. He threw a few plants into the boiling pot, and stirred a bit before adding some of the meat.
"Are those...entrails?" said Vil with a grossed out expression.
"Not much different than what we handle in alchemy class," said Cater dismissively. "Sure it's a pain to cut it up yourself, but once you get used to it, it's not that bad."
"Oui! It's so nice to find a fellow student who's not afraid to get his hands dirty in regards to prepping freshly caught game!" said Rook enthusiastically.
Cater said nothing as he began adding ingredients and spices, occasionally tasting it. It was beyond fascinating, and Vil found himself watching with avid attention as Cater paid the other two no mind.
His financial situation was well known in the dorm. He was only destitute by technicality...all of his money was tied up in long term investments, which didn't leave a lot of cash for him to work with due to school expenses. While his tuition was paid in full, books and supplies could get ridiculously expensive and things added up fast.
Vil would give Cater this much credit...while he sometimes went without a meal, he at least made things work without going into more...shady practices.
He wouldn't admit it but he had been watching the more common tabloids like a hawk the second he found out Cater had a digital camera and had been taking quite a few pictures around campus. Just one would set him up for a few weeks or even a couple of months if he got the right shot.
And yet, he had yet to see anything but the approved pictures in magazines.
Cater saw the expression on Vil's face when he served a decently sized bowl to him and Rook.
"I'm not the best, but I can at least cook something edible."
Vil didn't argue, as the stew wasn't made of anything overly processed and had plenty of fresh vegetables and spices. It was surprisingly good.
