Riddle was incredibly nervous, even though he wasn't on trial. To be fair, he wasn't expecting his alternate to call the entire dorm to order and explain to them in excruciating detail why he was so strict about the rules.
Most of the dorm was still in shock over a female version of their housewarden.
So Riddle sat back and let Alyssa do her thing...after Ace returned with the store bought tart. He was still annoyed with the red head, but he had fulfilled the requirement to be allowed back.
Alter!Trey was already fussing over Riddle, who was suspiciously calm.
Alyssa looked down from the podium at the collective dorm and saw she had their full attention.
Good.
"I understand that Riddle was extra strict before he disappeared. I want you all to know exactly why," said Alyssa. "Have any of you ever heard of avoidant restrictive food intake disorder?"
Seeing the confusion on most of the dorm, one brave soul raised their hand.
"Isn't that when kids are ridiculously picky about what foods they'll eat?"
"Close," she admitted. "However in Riddle's case, it's more along the lines of his mother forced him to endure multiple fad diets that supposedly 'improve' one's capability as a mage and would not let him eat enough calories for someone his age and size."
Dead silence as no one expected this much personal information about their strict housewarden.
"What does this have to do with him being so strict?" said Ace loudly. Alyssa glared at him, shutting him up rather effectively.
"Low blood sugar and high stress do not mix well," she said sharply. "Also, most fad diets are extremely unhealthy, especially for growing bodies. It took us an entire week for him to start eating normal portions again without throwing up, which is why it took us so long to return him."
"Wait...seriously?" said Cater horrified.
"If you don't believe me about that, ask Vil-senpai. I'm sure he'd be happy to explain how stupid such diets are and direct you to ones that actually work that won't utterly destroy your metabolism."
She could see them looking at their housewarden, mostly for confirmation. Che'nya had his tail wrapped firmly around Riddle, who was white as a sheet and tight lipped, as it was clear the subject matter was deeply unsettling for him. He had a death grip on the cat's tail, who didn't mind in the least. He knew Riddle needed this.
Alyssa looked to Alter!Trey, and motioned for him to speak. Trey, rather reluctantly because he knew how much Riddle hated talking about this, spoke about what little he knew of Riddle's childhood and how the Queen's rules were the only real outlet his 'mother' would permit him, mostly due to the fact they were in the Queendom of Roses.
She could see it start to sink in that their housewarden wasn't being strict with them because he wanted to. He was simply lashing out from the pain he was in, and latched on to the only outlet he had to get his stress out. The fact that he was expected to uphold those same rules as Housewarden meant that he held everyone up to the same ridiculously high standards he had for himself.
By the end of her explanation, the dorm was less upset over the beheadings and far more sympathetic towards their housewarden. Learning what a bitch his mother was and that he was simply beyond hangry explained a hell of a lot. Besides...Ace totally deserved being beheaded over that tart.
Alyssa waited a few days to insure Riddle would be okay, and could tell that the healing process would be a long one.
Which was why she had zero issues tracking down the alternate Floyd, who was just as obsessed with his 'goldfishie' as hers had been.
Azul eyed the girl with confusion.
"Why is Riddle's alternate here?" he asked.
"I'm here to give Floyd some tips on how to lure in his favorite goldfish so that Riddle will actually date him, rather than try to behead him," she said amused.
Floyd had a pen and paper in his hands so fast it would have made other's head spin. Further inspection revealed he had stolen it from an unlucky server who had been attempting to take an order.
"I'm all ears."
The moray was particularly gleeful being given such useful advice on how to get Riddle's affection, especially since it was coming from his alternate.
"You seem particularly knowledgeable about what to tell Floyd in a way he'd understand," said Jade amused. He also set down a strawberry-laden drink.
"In my alternate, you two are my mates. I just had to confirm Floyd was pursuing this version of myself before I decided to intervene."
"Wait...both of us?" said Floyd surprised.
"You've been interested in me since I kicked your ass first year, despite being a 'tiny goldfish' in your terms. Jade mostly grew interested when a potion accident caused my tail and ears to fully appear and I couldn't retract them like normal. He likes to brush the fur and cuddle with it," said Alyssa shrugging. Then she grinned and pulled out a small orb. Closer inspection revealed a small terrarium with some sort of fungus inside.
She gave it to Jade.
"This is a rare mushroom starter my Jade wanted me to give to his alternate."
Jade looked absolutely delighted with the gift. Floyd and Azul made a grimace. However it definitely showed that she did know something about Jade, to bring something like that with her.
"And you didn't bring anything for me?" Floyd pouted, mostly joking.
"One, I'm helping you get laid sometime this year with the guy who's ass you've been watching like a hawk," she said with a grin. Azul almost choked on his drink. "And two, I thought you'd be more interested in this."
Alyssa pulled out a strange flower. When Floyd went to poke at it, the thing nearly bit his finger off.
"I'm sure you can think of several places to plant such an entertaining flower for maximum amusement. It grows like a weed, so you can easily regrow it later if someone damages it."
Floyd looked like Christmas had come early. He was openly amused by tormenting the carnivorous flora.
"As for you Azul..." said Alyssa. She pulled out a decently sized bag.
"What's this?" he asked.
"For your coin collection," she said simply.
Azul blinked, and opened the bag. Inside was a large collection of rare and unusual coins, with no two the same.
"Che'nya-nii has developed a bit of a pickpocket habit, and when he learned you collected coins he agreed to let me share them. The Azul in my world already has these," she said cheerfully. "On that note, Cater would like to know if any of you would like to record the rest of the school's reaction to a female Riddle wandering around for the next week for free blackmail."
"Seven, yes," said Azul without thinking twice about the matter. Free blackmail? Where did he sign up?
~*~*~*~
Vil took one look at the chaos and almost had to do a doubletake. Mostly because there was Riddle, sitting in the middle of the cafeteria wearing a fashionable dress, complete with a braided ponytail and ribbons, high heels that should be classed as weapons (that perfectly matched the dress) calmly sipping tea like nothing was wrong.
Even more baffling was the fact that he was wearing full on make-up that accented his eyes and features, making them look softer and fuller. His aura radiated straight up authority and the sort of regal air one would expect of a king who gave exactly zero fucks about what the peasant's thought of his rule.
Vil gave the entire ensemble a nine out of ten, because it was rather well put together and his demeanor suited it perfectly.
It took him all of three seconds to register the fact that multiple students, all from different dorms, were crashing into tables once their brains processed the shock of Riddle in a dress.
This was too amusing to not find out what was going on, so Vil got his lunch and sat at the same table.
"So, what sparked the change?" he asked, his voice amused.
Riddle smirked.
"The version of Riddle you're familiar with is currently trying to set the dorm straight after being missing for almost two weeks. And this is how I normally dress in my version of Night Raven."
Vil blinked twice.
"Your version?" he repeated.
"This," Riddle said calmly, tugging lightly on his braid, "is not an extension."
Vil really looked at Riddle, and his eyes widened once he registered the breasts hidden under the ribbon.
"What should I address you as?" he asked, since last he checked, Riddle was a male.
"I go by Alyssa-hime," said Alyssa cheerfully. "Speaking of Riddle, do you know of anyone who could point him in the direction of those who've bounced back from those stupid fad diets that do more harm than good?"
Vil had to blink at the question.
"I know a few doctors who specialize in helping models recover from them, why?"
"His mother," she said with a hiss that made it sound more like a curse than a term of endearment, "Is a strong believer that forced dieting without proper research is the best way to improve his qualifications as a mage, and it's made him beyond irritable. It took us almost two weeks to help him get his metabolism back to normal."
Vil's expression turned dark, though that did explain quite a bit about Riddle's usual behavior.
"I'll make a list," he promised.
The local Riddle was highly baffled about the list Vil gave him right before the next housewarden meeting, but had a grateful look once he explained what it was. Finding out that his mother forced him to diet without proper research made him far more sympathetic to the younger teen.
He also got several blackmail pictures from Cater, who shared them in thanks for the list.
Vil enjoyed the light conversation he had with Alyssa-hime, who was quite close with his alternate and knew a bit about fashion. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that the flowers she had on her outfit were real, and kept alive using magic. It gave off a light floral scent that was rather pleasing, and she happily gave him the combination to use in his next homemade perfume.
Alyssa wandered the hallways and took unholy glee watching people walk into walls, random objects, and occasionally another student.
She knew damn well that the Octotrio, Cater and a few others were recording this shit for future blackmail because this was hilarious. Rook was among this number at Vil's request.
Setting up a pathway for the local Riddle to reach her for tea and proper conversation was tricky, but not impossible. It helped their worlds were so similar that traveling between them was possible.
That being said, Riddle would be glad when she returned to her own alternate, if for no other reasons than the looks he was getting were beyond unsettling.
Floyd was being even more annoying than usual, but in an odd way. Alyssa simply smiled at her alternate when he commented on it, unaware that she had given him a list of things he could try to lure his goldfishie to him.
He was somewhat torn between thanking her and cursing, because he found himself in Floyd's bed less than a month after she left after being tricked into drinking too much.
On a related note, Riddle found himself becoming much closer to Vil due to the fact the model had personal experience to how damaging fad dieting could be. He worked up close and personal with people who kept up with trends...and the dark side of modeling.
The fact Riddle also became well acquainted with a proper therapist who recognized the signs of someone about to snap could only be to his benefit.
~*~*~*~
Alyssa looked at the odd cards she had been given.
"What are these?"
"Rose Knight cards," said Suzaku. "They use a similar concept to the cloak, only instead of sending people to random places, it summons those who have been keyed into them to you."
Alyssa looked at him suspiciously.
"Did you seriously recreate the summoning system from Barajou no Kiss?" she asked.
"Don't look at me like that, it was Kurama's idea," said Suzaku defensively. "So far it only has two people keyed into the cards."
"I know one of them is likely Che'nya, so who's the other?" she asked.
"That would be me," said a voice. It was Cater.
"You?" she said surprised. She would have expected Trey, Floyd or Jade.
Cater merely smiled at her. It wasn't one of his fake ones either.
"You're practically a little sister to me, and the idea of drifting apart was unbearable when Che'nya brought it up. So when he asked for volunteers for the cards, I was second after Che'nya. Though we haven't had a chance to ask the twins yet."
"What about Trey?"
"He's still on the fence," said Cater.
"There are perks to being keyed into the system," said Suzaku.
Alyssa turned to him.
"It's still in the testing phase, but summoning someone via the card should also give them a unique weapon that is personally tailored to them. Che'nya for instance will have the cloak."
"What about Cater-nii?" she asked.
"Why not summon him and find out?" said Suzaku.
"How do I do that?"
After a quick walkthrough, Alyssa performed her first 'summon', which was pretty similar to her card clone trick with Riddle.
She channeled a bit of youki/magic into the card and threw it, focusing on Cater.
Cater allowed the pull to occur, and found himself summoned with an odd visor over his eyes that was pretty stylish, and two odd bladed weapons that almost looked like frisbees.
"What are these?" he asked.
"They look like chakram," said Suzaku after a moment.
"Neat," said Cater. He could already see a world of hurt coming his way, but at least he knew the system worked.
