A Queen and Her Kings

Under the Pale Moonlight

When Cassandra got back to the dorm after classes, she was greeted by the sight of Riddle sitting beside Yue on one of the couches, holding a tiny red hedgehog in his hands while the boy beside him struggled to apply something to the animal's front right paw with his finger due to it's squirming.

"Hold her still! I can't apply the salve if she's constantly moving!", the black haired boy ordered indignantly, holding his red string hair tie in between his teeth as he tried to put his hair back in a ponytail with only one hand. Riddle glared at him.

"I'm trying! She's scared, what do you expect?!", the gray eyed dormhead yelled back. Yue glared at him shortly after succeeding in putting his hair up. Cassandra then noticed that the hedgehog, a girl from what Riddle said, had a cut on her right paw. It wasn't too deep, but it still looked rather bad. Sitting her bag down on the table in the mudroom, she walked up to her boyfriends with a bewildered look on her face, arms crossed.

"What happened?", she asked. Yue and Riddle looked up at her in surprise, having been so absorbed in their work that they didn't notice the girl approaching. The hedgehog took this as her chance to escape, squirming free from Riddle's hands and scurrying down his legs and onto the floor. Riddle watched her do this in alarm.

"Rosa, no!", he yelled out, trying to tell the rodent to stop. She just squeaked and ran over to her destination, which was Cassandra. She climbed onto her right shoe, up her leg and torso, and onto her right shoulder.

"Hey, that tickles!", the redheaded girl said as she laughed, careful not to move too much so as to not further harm the climbing hedgehog. Once she was stationary, Cassandra turned her head a bit so she could see the animal.

"Well hello there.", she greeted in a kind tone of voice. Rosa squeaked in reply and nuzzled her face into Cassandra's neck, causing her to laugh again. Riddle and Yue watched the scene in curiosity.

"That's odd. She normally isn't fond of anyone who isn't me.", Riddle observed aloud. Cassandra smiled at him and scratched Rosa's head with one of her fingers.

"She must smell you on me. That or she just likes me. When I met Silver, the small animals that followed him around wouldn't leave me alone, which is a stark contrast to the ones back home who can't get away from me fast enough.", the golden eyed girl mused. Riddle crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"That's an awfully mixed set of reactions. I thought animals were supposed to be good judges of character?", the boy questioned. At that moment, Ash and Shorter both came down the stairs, and they both glared at the red haired boy for his words.

"They aren't!", they both yelled in unison, giving each other weird looks briefly afterwards, before they returned to their glaring. Riddle tilted his head.

"How so?", he asked. Ash was the first to answer him.

"One of the guys I used to work for had this weird leopard-spotted cat that loved him and hated everyone else, despite the fact he was the worst excuse for a human being I've ever met. He would scratch me every time I tried to get near him and bite me at the most random times. I don't know what happened to him after the guy died.", the blonde said with a dead sort of look in his eyes. Shorter's story came next.

"My Nana used to have this tiny-ass purse dog she would bring with her everywhere, and whenever I went to visit her she would always try to bite me and my dad, but left my sister and mom alone. The reason was she hated men but loved women for some unknown reason, and this applied to literally everyone. It didn't matter if you were a sociopathic serial killer; so long as you had boobs, she loved you like a plant loves water. She died when I was five-both the dog and my Nana-, and I am so glad that oversized rat did not outlive her and have to come live with us.", Shorter recounted with a shudder. Cassandra rolled her eyes at his dramatics, and Riddle blinked.