THE VAIKE JUST GOT A LOT VAIKER!

Though he himself hadn't wished to admit it in the moment -- Chrom was happy to see Vaike at the academy, let alone as a fellow professor, regardless of their placement in different houses. Their friendship (and rivalry, though Chrom wouldn't indulge Vaike in refering to it as such) had been one of many that the young Exalt had cherished, even causing Chrom to wonder if Vaike would ever come to The Officer's Academy, among other things. I wonder if our Houses will come to clash. 

So, as the duo stared at the stew -- a perpetual stew, as rumors would've had it -- Chrom felt the infectious excitement brewing from his rival. This could be a little House clash here, though none of the Three need to know. As Vaike prepares to take a bite, and as he goads Chrom into doing so, the Exalt gives a smirk as he fixes himself a bowl. 

Admittedly, the mysterious aspect of this stew brought Chrom quiet pause as well, though he wouldn't admit that to Vaike either. How is it perpetual? " How about a rematch for our cooking competition, Vaike? Especially since you seem so hellbent on saying you won that. " A crack of the neck, followed by a light jab of Vaike's shoulder. " Whoever can eat the most bowls of this stew wins. "

It was a stupid competition, but the talking-to Lissa gave the two boys last time had lingered in Chrom's head. He didn't want to worry his little sister with a proper fight, even if she hadn't been there to witness it. 

“I’m only hellbent on it ‘coz it’s true! Ya can't win a cooking contest if the judge can't score ya. If Teach’s gotta do another competition to get it through to yer skull, then so be it!” 

Just when he feels his confidence spike, he looks down at the grub in his bowl. It looks… Well…

It’s gotta be at least tastier than whatever Chrom can cook up, right?

Lifting the first spoonful towards his mouth is like getting ready to hike on the world’s tallest mountain. “Alright, on the count of three! One… Two…”

“THREE!!!”

He shoves the spoon into his mouth and tries to swallow it whole. The first spoon goes in, easy peasy lemon squeezy. Flavor? What’s that? If the Vaike spends too much time thinking about how there’s too much going on in this stew, his winning chances are gonna plummet! In goes the second spoon!

And then the third…!

And then… 

By the time the fourth spoon enters his mouth, his face scrunches up, eyes wrinkling at the flavor like a long-lived grandma without her reading glasses. His trembling hand lands on his knee as he forces himself to swallow, and he murmurs…

she rests for a moment, dabbing at the sweat on her forehead with a towel she's draped around her shoulders. it's hard work but it's good work here; even if she's not a scholar or a knight or a professor, there's enough to do around here where she feels like she's earning her spot. on top of that, she's not the only one working hard! she offers a smile to the blonde man nearby.

and boy, he's working hard. look at those sleeves, pulled back to show off some of that toned muscle. he's a man of effort... and, well, meg knows how to appreciate guys like that. a light blush crosses her freckled face, but she hides it behind her towel. all right. time to get to work!

she stands back up and kicks her stool to the side, then pats the horse she's working on's rump before reaching down. the horse offers its leg without fuss, which at least shows her that whoever she's working for properly socializes their animals. that's good! as she picks at all of the dirt stuck in the hoof, wedging it between her legs, she hums.

As much as he hated to admit it, he didn’t have the best track record at dealing with horses. Vaike shudders to think of the way Sully’s horse would stare at him menacingly back in Ylisse. Which is why seeing her cleaning its hooves like it’s a regular afternoon gets him a teensy bit curious. “Ya got a horse back home or somethin’? I know we’re s’pose to be pretending we’re good at our job, but yer lookin’ like you’ve done this plenty of times.”

When he’s trying to get a particularly stubborn patch of rust outta the way, face nearly touching the metal to make sure he can see the thing in as high definition as possible, the Vaike hears a breath tickling the shell of his ear. He looks up and –

Oh. There’s another horse in here. 

Oh! There's another horse in here!

“SWEET MONKERIN' BRIGANDS!”

It takes everything in Teach not to launch himself backwards. One, it would be a terrible look for him if Meg saw that. Two, he’s pretty sure that’s gonna rile up the horse in some way. “Didn’t notice the other fella was here, haha… ha… Uhh… Good horsie…” Carefully, he returns to where he stopped, speaking through his teeth. “Look, see? Can’t have a good meal if yer bowl’s not clean, right…?”

Its ears are twitching a little and it’s looking at him. Is that a good thing? Somehow, he’s feeling more pressured that a horse’s supervising his scrubbing work over a human…

Corrin groans as she pulls herself up, sticking her weapon into the ground as leverage, wincing somewhat at seeing Yato embedded into the sandy ground.

"Supposed to be more... chivalric, or something. Longer lance correlating to a better knight. It doesn't make combat easier, but... I can learn. I have the strength to, and the need to - my people need someone who can defend them, so I should be as knightly as my people can get. They've been through enough."

She goes into a standing position, crossing her arms with a slight huff, as she hears another of her classmates fall over from overexertion somewhere else on the grounds. Seems she wasn't the only one struggling to be a proper knight.

"And I can't control it yet. I can in time. That's why I'm out here - to make it so I can control it. I mostly use swords, but if using a lance can make me a more heroic figure to undo the legacy left at home, more so the better."

She draws her lance back, and, with a shake of her head, attempts one of the lance pokes she saw Silas do in training while grounded, combined with some of the advice she had from home, and the book.

"Aim for the vital spots... and go!"

A clean blow... that she almost loses the grip of. But with a grunt (and some draconic strength flowing through her arms...) she raises her weapon high - lance still embedded into the straw form.

"And then..."

She grunts. This is heavy. But... she can do it.

"Spin!"

She lets out a roar, almost as heavy as when transformed, and twirls, using the impaled dummy as a bludgeoning tool, wracking each and every dummy round her.

And almost-

CRAP

"Gah!"

She quickly pulls it up before it can make contact with her teacher (or something like that, he had something he called himself in the lecture she attended of his), (semi)gently laying her weapon on the ground, holding her head high.

"Still improving!"

She don’t mean that book that the Vaike’s been hearing along the grapevine, right?

“Er, does the weapon ya use really matter in knightly stuff?” Sure, a lot of knights he’s seen usually go for the lances, but he figured that’s more out of convenience than anything. A weapon's a weapon.

He watches her have another go, and by the gods, she sure can lift that thing! Maybe she’s actually onto somethi–

“EGADS! Watch the face!!!” 

The Vaike instinctively ducks before the swance contraption swings towards his direction. A hell of a deadly weapon, and an even deadlier wielder!

He runs a hand from his forehead to the back of his head as he straightens himself up, making sure his hair band’s still in place. “... I dunno about you, but with your strength, Teach doesn’t think you’d need a bigger weapon to defend the people you wanna defend. Heck, I think swords can be just as heroic and knightly as lances!” Or whatever being knightly is supposed to mean, anyway!

Can you believe it? Fate and destiny has once again brought Chrom and the ol’ Teach to the same place, at the same time! He didn’t even know that Chrom was also a professor. To those who think they AREN’T rivals tied to the hip, how do they explain this, huh? Huh?! The Vaike is waiting.

Ah, besides that! What better way to spend a reunion than to try out some of that ‘perpetual stew’ that’s been going around the block?

When they arrived at the place and he saw the gigantic pot with the granny stirring the batch…

Now this is a whole pot-a-stew that the Vaike’s never seen before…!

“Wait… There’s HOW many ingredients floatin’ around in here?” He looks down into the stew and sees bits and bobs of foodstuff bubbling away. The Vaike can’t even tell which one’s animal and which one’s plant… Or, what if there’s a secret third thing that shouldn’t be in a stew, but is in this one? 

The way that granny’s acting all mysterious about it is kinda scary. Scary enough for Teach to gulp in anticipation.

No!

He can’t back out so quickly and easily, especially when Chrom’s next to him…

Vaike grabs a bowl and scoops up the stew, plopping it in and laughing with enough confidence to put the sun out of a job. “Hah! The Vaike can handle whatever stew ya throw into his chomper! C’mon Chrom, dig in!” 

she's only just got to this monastery, so all of these noble names don't mean a lot to her---blaiddyd? gloucester? gosh, even the names themselves sound rich---but when she hears that people are in need of strong hands, she's quick to jump in and volunteer her services.

thankfully, everyone's got a horse they need cared for!

now that she's cleaned all of the dirty bedding out of the stable of a beautiful dappled grey, she's all excited to get to the next part: cleanin' up that pretty pony! all she needs is a hoof pick and a nice stool to sit on. " s'cuse me, mister...? " ooh, she really should have asked that blonde man for his name before she started working with him. be still, her shy and tender heart... " could you toss me one'a them there stools next to ya? i'd appreciate it! "

The Vaike’ll never understand the way nobles live… Least he’s working with a pretty gal, so he’s not tending to these horses on his own.

They’re a bit of a ways away from each other for him to simply hand it over, so Teach does as he’s asked, flashes a wink and tosses a stool her direction. “One stool, comin’ right up!” She can catch it, right?

Apparently they were s’pose to disguise themselves, but what’s the point of that if he’s just some random schmuck to these rich folks? Not like they batted an eye when they tossed him stablehand garb and told him to get to work. 

He’ll just prove to them that the Vaike never messes around, fair and square! Just like when he was with the Shepherds!

And that’s why he’s got his sleeves all rolled up to the elbows, scrubbing down the dirt and grime of the troughs.

Were knights... so different here in Fodlan?

She had several knight friends in her army - Benny, Laslow, Effie, Charlotte, Silas, there were so many she knew as somewhat role models on what 'chivalry' could mean.

But here? Some of this seemed to reflect similarly, but... well, if it was how she needed to do, she could adapt.

"Alright, let's see... 'the larger your lance, the more chivalrous a figure you strike-' I... think I had a greatlance somewhere around there..."

Wait - maybe she could do some modifications! With a bit of grit, and a few pieces of wood, she manages her feat - Yato, attached to the lance, and with it, she takes out to the training grounds.

"'Sweeping blows are best - keeps you safe from a distance and takes out multiple enemies around you!' That'd explain the length thing... but isn't that best for axes? Well, the book says to, so may as well try!"

Corrin pulls out several training dummies, lining them up in a circular display - she can spy several of her classmates doing similar - but with shorter weapons. Heh, she was doing this better than them.

"And..."

She swings her lance, and WHOAAAH-

That thing was way heavier than she was expecting.

But she has to do this to be a chivalric princess - it's what her people need. And maybe she can work some more control into her, since her draconic nature already somewhat helped with the strength part.

"Have to try that again."

She swings, and... way overexerts herself in it, winding up spinning herself out, landing on her butt, hair spread out beneath her as she looks up into a pair of eyes she recognized - one of her classe's professors. Well, this wasn't someone she wanted to look a fool in front of. Ah well, this was the learning process.

Weather? As good as it can be.

Mood? On fire!

Of course, that’s how the Vaike is everyday, but that’s why everyday is a good day!

Just look at all these students in the training hall, just as motivated as he is to get even stronger! He strides down by the side of the hall, trying to find a good empty spot to work on his daily reps, when his eye catches sight of a girl sending herself to the ground right in front of him.

“Woah, woah, WOAH! What in the somersaulting canines are ya doin’?!” 

When he extends a hand to pull her back onto her feet, he sees the strange weapon laying next to her. Did she really stick a sword and a lance together? A… swance? The Vaike’s never seen someone swinging in the air more recklessly than HE does!

“Ya can’t go luggin’ around a weapon that big if ya can’t control it! By the time ya got your balance, the enemy’s already shankin’ you to bits!” His tone is more shocked and surprised than angry, as if he'd just seen a mythical creature that made him question his entire worldview. 

He couldn’t have taught her this stuff… Could he?

No way! This was Teach's first week at the job! And the only thing he’s taught the Deer so far is axework, not swancework!