Will you play with me?

"You aren't going to give me homework and detention are you?" she asked accusingly, though playfully, poking her finger at him. "I'm your friend, Corrin! You can't do that!"

He laughs softly at her grumpy expression, though he can tell that she isn't really upset.

"Can you help me with homework at least?" she asked. "I don't like it, it fries my brain."

"Kinuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, you're not allowed to leave me ever again."

"... Good." She sniffs carefully at her friend, making sure to take in as much of her scent as she could. Kinu always smelled like the outside, and it was such a nice smell.

"I'll just have to prank him later as revenge!" she declared with a giggle. "Anyway! It's so cool that you're here!! Are you a student too? Or a really cool teacher???"

(Just... maybe not endless games of tag or such. He definitely would not be able to handle that. Not forever, at least. A few games would be fine... oh goodness, he was really starting to sound old, wasn't he?)

"You aren't going to give me homework and detention are you?" she asked accusingly, though playfully, poking her finger at him. "I'm your friend, Corrin! You can't do that!"

Closed starter for @ventusanimae

Okay, so it wasn't like it was her fault, per see. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time! Practising fire magic! Seteth didn't need to scold her for that! He's just a big meanie face with bad hair. Kinu kicked the ground as she walked, grumbling under her breath. It wasn't like she caused any accidents to happen. But noooooo, she had to be "more mindful of her surroundings" and "go and be less chaotic." Stupid Seteth and his stupid rules.

With a lot of people away, Kinu thought it would be a good time to practice magic so that she could be better once they got back. But no, Seteth wanted her to learn under supervision. Well then. She knew where to go then! And Seteth couldn't complain about it! Ears pressed backwards to emphasise her pout, Kinu made her way to the offices. Heading over to the door she wanted, she pulled her best kicked kit look, watering eyes and all, and knocked.

"Excuse me, professor..." she called, the beginning strains of a little fox whine in her voice. "Could I ask for your help with something?"

For Merric, who has extended his office hours, that means a whole lot of extra time, usually spent reading and working. Every once in a while, a student comes to him for a chat; other than that, he has graded all assignments well ahead of time, planned and prepared lectures for three months in advance, catalogued all the newest books he has purchased... Leaving him with little more than furthering his own studies.

At least, until another head pops into the room, adorned by a beautiful pair of fox ears, and a matching voice to go with it. Interesting. He has heard of some students and knights alike present at the Academy, showing animalistic features and, in at least some cases, being able to transform. For his part, he has only ever seen dragons do it, the majesty of Tiki and Bantu etched into his memory forever. How fascinating to see that other countries have more variety in such species. And how nice to see them able to coexist in harmony with humans. At least, he hopes that is the case. He would like to contribute to it, if he can.

Merric smiles, motioning for her to come in as he closes his tome.

"I'm Kinu and I was wondering if you could help me practice magic," she said. "Seteth told me I couldn't do it unsupervised." And just to emphasise it further... "he says I might burn something..."

There may be some weird rumors about the sauna, but weird rumors aren't enough to deter the likes of Caspar von Bergliez. The solution seems pretty obvious if you ask him—if a doppelgänger is supposed to show up when you fill the room with steam while you're all alone, just don't go overboard on the steam, duh! It turns out there's just…one little flaw in his plan. Whomever had been in here earlier didn't seem to have been on the same page—when he opens the door, cloudy tendrils already seep out to welcome him in. There in the mist, a silhouette takes shape. It's a person, he's sure, but there are two triangular shapes atop the head that give him pause. Horns, maybe…? That just confirms it—whoever this is, they are not a normal human, and Caspar is not going to lose his identity to some kind of monster tonight! "You're some kinda shapeshifter, are ya?" He steadies his posture, fists at the ready. "Well, you'd better think twice if you think you can make it past me!"

So of course she goes and fills the sauna with as much steam as possible and waits. When the door opens and someone enters, Kinu grins.

"Oh goody, I've been waiting for you!" she exclaims. "Fight me!!"

Blue fox fire starts to flicker around her, only adding to the vibe in the room. It didn't help her see any clearer, the fire just cast a blue light around.

Phila's heart is buoyed on the winds of an easy familiarity, the warm glow of being in a place bustling with people and feeling like you belong there. It had been something she'd forgotten to miss. Tending to her body had been low on her priority, but food was so much more than maintenance. Her best memories of dinner were the ones thronged with knights, weary and boistrous from a day's drills, teasing her about how distracted she had been when the Exalt had launched a surprise visit on the training grounds.

Her shoulders lower, slowly she raises a spoonful of her soup to her lips, closing her eyes as she swallows, as if the black wall of her shut eyelids could take this fulfillment and keep it inside of her forever. She hadn't realised this body was capable of such a feeling. She was suspicious that it would disappear when she least expected it.

'Love... yes, I agree.' Food had always seemed to elude her home. It was something her parents had to wrestle through the door, in slightly bruised turnips, grains of rice that nobody else had wanted. Reaping something from nothing had been a skill her mother had perfected. Every meal was an I love you. It was a shame she could not inherit that skill: to fold emotions into dough and love into the smell of warm food.

'You are correct.' She can't help it, her voice slips into that of a teacher praising a student for a particularly astute point. 'Such ingredients must have been hard to locate if the staff did not have them to hand. If you don't mind imparting your secrets, where did you locate them?' Here she relents, softens slightly. Speaking with Kinu was reminding her of the person she had been. The one who could laugh with her fellow knights, who had run to her mother with scraped knees and tears, who could allow herself to tease, ever so slightly.

Her ears perked up at the praise.

"If my dad ever makes it here, maybe I'll ask him to cook for everyone!" She exclaimed. "That might be a good way to repay many people at once."

Kinu had to think about the question of repaying the kitchen staff though. They needed something good. But she had no idea what she could give them.

the king was quick to his feet, wasting no time in unplanting his behind from the floor. it was rather unbecoming (embarrassing) to fail at something, especially when there was someone else counting on you. those feelings nearly masked the way he nearly jumped when sitting up, just nearly. his balance felt off, he felt far too light, almost as if he was a child again... that teacher had said something about side effects if not done right. great...

ephraim hesitantly looked down at himself, expecting to find the nostalgic figure of his young self. what he found upon inspection was that he was not a child, not he was someone else entirely. he was light, shorter, he had a tail... he had a tail... it was at this moment he began to realize the effects of this ward powder. he was in the body of the one who had sought him out for this experiment. it took a moment to recall her name, but at last he remembered it was Kinu.

he looked out to where he had been standing, finally gaining his ground once more. it was lost mere moments later as he watched himself.... eep and jitter in a way that felt far to unnatural to his build. every action the girl took in his body sent an unfamiliar chill down his spine, making him turn away from his own body.

"Wh-what??" "..... I-I-I'm sorry!"

when it appears she is done coming to the same conclusion as him, he turns back to her. his brow furrows in contemplation, considering what they should even do in this situation. their teacher had said any effects were of the temporary effect, so all they had to do was wait. it appeared he would have to play babysitter to this girl so that she did not give others the wrong impression of him.

"it's... quite alright." he stated blandly, still lost in thought on how to contain this predicament to just the two of them. "our instructor told us any side effects would be temporary, and besides, we both made a mistake it seems."

"if you would make it up to me, though... perhaps you would stick close to me until this has ran it's course?"

"Right... only temporary..." she murmured. Gosh, seeing her own face in a frown was WIERD... But if it was temporary then she didn't have to get used to it. Wait... that meant that Ephraim probably thought it was weird when she did things as him.... gah this was a headache!! Kinu made a frustrated sound and shook herself.

Ephraim suggested them staying together until this issue fixed itself, and Kinu couldn't see much issue with that... except.

"What a stick in the mud! Your most prized treasure and he wants to take it from you just because you cause a little mischeif! Absolutely uncalled for! Doesn't he know that is simply your idea of fun?" His words are overdrawn, and far too dramatic, but in the spirit of humoring his dear little foxy friend, nothing is too far.

"I'll just have to prank him later as revenge!" she declared with a giggle. "Anyway! It's so cool that you're here!! Are you a student too? Or a really cool teacher???"

my first post is just some simple actions; plenty of room for you to decide what the reasoning or emotion behind the action is. feel free to make edits to better suit your muse, but please don’t edit or add on to the original post 💛

[COLLAR] - sender reaches out to smooth down / fix receiver's collar.

[RUFFLE] - sender ruffles receiver's hair.

[BRACE] - sender braces receiver under the elbow.

[FOREHEAD] - sender feels receiver's forehead.

[HANDS] - sender takes receiver's hands.

[NECKLACE] - sender fastens a necklace around receiver's neck.

[SHOULDER] - sender lays a hand on receiver's shoulder.

[SIT] - sender guides receiver to sit down on a chair / bed / wall / etc.

[LAY] - sender guides receiver by the shoulders to lay back.

[TUG] - sender tugs receiver's hand in an attempt to get them to follow.

[WAIST] - sender rests a hand against receiver's waist.

[SUPPORT] - sender pulls receiver's arm over their shoulder for support.

[DRINK] - sender sets something to drink down in front of receiver.

[FOOD] - sender sets something to eat down in front of receiver.

[BACK] - sender rubs a hand up and down receiver's back.

[COAT] - sender zips / buttons up receiver's coat for them.

[CHEEK] - sender brushes a thumb over receiver's cheek.

[NUZZLE] - sender nuzzles into receiver's neck.

[HUG] - sender tugs receiver in for a hug.

[CHIN] - sender tucks receiver in under their chin.

[LIFT] - sender lifts receiver off the ground (or attempts to).

[CARRY] - sender carries receiver to another location.

"Haha... I'm sure you could protect me. But I'd rather there not be a ghost at all." It was just a story. It was just a story; he tries to reassure himself. It had to just be a story! Goddess, he hopes it was just a story.

"Well," Kinu hummed as the pair of them approached the cathedral. "What if we could help her? Like.... that might help her pass on properly?"

She can read a room.

Well, no, she couldn't allow herself to get too confident in her abilities at observing custom. Not after she had broken it so profoundly before. Frustration had been the driving froce then, a desire to shake the Exalt by the shoulder, in all her distant placidity, to pull her loose from under the cross she was all too eager to bear. Still, when seated next to someone so utterly exuberant, someone who grabbed all that life afforded to her between the teeth, she would rather have broken a thousand social conventions (and she was certain, were Frederick here, he could list a thousand such) than do anything to disturb that. She was here to cultivate her students. If their joy happened to reflect onto her, like light bouncing off of a coin, she was happy to take the vicarious snatches where she could get them.

'Food from home is unlike anything else. My mother used to make stuffed cabbages, and they could make me smile no matter my mood.' A younger Phila, bawling and tired and frustrated, rewarded for having picked a fight with a bigger kid with a fine layer of dirt and bruises comes home and falls silent under the magical trance of home cooking.

Hoshido, another country to add to the ranks of lands she had never seen, that were little more to her than student's fond remembrances. Pegasus knights tended to assume that because they could see the world from on high, they had seen it all, held the globe in their hands and made it level with their pupil. Now, she was more aware than ever that this was not the case. It thrilled and terrified her with equal fervour.

"Home food is always best, especially from parents," Kinu agreed. "I think it's the love. Parents always make their food with love."

And it was the magic ingredient that made all food taste better. How many times had her mum or her dad come and visted her and brought her their own cooking? Her parents' food was always the best!!

"Well, I guess it's a bit difficult to get everything for a certain dish when only one person is asking for it," Kinu replied cheerfully, in no way actually bothered by it at all. "So I offered to get ingredients for them and they were happy to make it then! I totally owe them something good for letting me request this."

He stops after a moment, satisfied for now with how much he was able to pat her head. If she wanted more he would happily pet her more, but he does have his limits. If he patted her head forever like she surely would have wanted, his arm would get really tired. Not to mention his whole body definitely didn't have the energy to keep going like that forever, even if he would love to.

Perhaps they could have a little cuddle pile in their other forms at some point, but now didn't seem to be the time.

Looking up at Corrin, Kinu flattened her ears as far as she could, let her tail hang limply behind her and stared at him with the most pitiful puppy eyes she could summon.

"I know...!" she said, drawing out the whine. "He's not fun at all!"