She hops up beside him and presents him with a paw!

He flexes his fingers; a silver ring appears. He gently applies pin to paw, and then immediately applies healing magic to the resulting pinhole; there's a brief sensation of soothing coolness, and no more pinhole.

"Yes, that's about what I'd expect. As you said, life changes the pattern."

Tail swish tail swish. She gives his hand a fond goodbye boop, then hops back to her letters.

Odd though! I'm female fox. All fox female fox, or because female human?

Apparently someone is excited and is skipping proper grammar because of it.

"I'd expect that you're a female fox because you were a female human, but I can't be sure without looking at the source to see how the creator of the music box arranged things. He could have been lazy and decided to make everyone female foxes. Hmm, actually, there's another way to achieve a slightly better guess - when you were human, did your eyes look like they do now? If so, probably they carried over directly, so the magic was responding to the properties of your existing body in constructing your new one. If not, it's more likely that your fox body was constructed without reference to the human original."

Her ears perk up, and she gives an affirmative yip and a nod.

Clever, she praises, tail swishing.

"Why thank you! I do try."

He vanishes the pin and goes back to fiddling with the length of string.

"The eyes are interesting, actually, now that I think of it..." and he trails off, still absently weaving string through his fingers.

Astea gives him an affectionate boop. He is very cute when he's being a nerd.

Oh? Or do you need to return to your books because this is relevant?

"Hmm—might be nothing, might be something, I'll let you know when I find out, feel free to drag me out of my pile of books if you get curious—I've forgotten what time of day it is already—" he kisses the top of her head and conjures a picnic basket in case of foxly hunger and vanishes.

She giggles. He is a very cute nerd, and it's a pity that she can't properly nerd with him because she's stuck as a fox. Fortunately, he's trying to fix that, so.

Hmmmmm she would like to spend her day investigating his library and reading! She bets he has some very nice books.

He has so very many nice books. On so very many subjects.

Why didn't she investigate the library sooner? This is a treasure trove! Oh, right, it's because she's a fox and reaching shelves is difficult, leaving books intact is difficult, and turning pages while a quadruped is a chore. Regardless, though, she has some practice reading as a fox, so she's going to use it. And very very carefully not damage any of these precious books.

Isfain is not the only one that forgets what time is, today.

It's possible that without her intervention, Isfain is just going to pull another of those book-filled all-nighters.

Hmm? Isfain? Is there an Isfain? Astea remembers only this excellent series of novels. ... And maybe to feed herself. She guesses.

Her picnic basket is easily foxable and contains many delicious treats.

Her wizard friend is going to spend the next thirty-six hours or so squirreled away in a study somewhere, reading obscure wizard books and making notes about various theories.

She does remember to sleep in this time, and similarly remembers that Isfain exists and is squirrelled away when she does that. The lack of warm snuggles gives it away. She's curious about what he's figuring out, but she expects that explaining everything to her would make everything take twice as long.

... But she does decide to keep him company, since she's reading, too. Books get carefully bundled in a sheet so she can drag them to him, and she flops at his feet with one of them, leaning against his leg fondly.

"Oh! You still exist! Hello." He reaches down to apply scritches to the fluffy friend. "I've been," yawn, "at it again, haven't I. But this time I have good news, I think! I still have to double-check, er, a few things..." he glances sheepishly at the enormous stacks of books scattered around the room. "Maybe more than a few."

Astea giggles and leans into his touch.

She has a bundle of books of her own! Looks like she planned to do some companionable reading. None of the books she brought look like they'd be at all helpful to his project, just that they'd be fun for her to read.

Scritch scritch. "Feel free to nibble me reproachfully if I look like I'm headed into a second night without sleep." And he picks up his latest reference text again.

Affirmative yip!

And then they have ~companionable reading.~

There is so much reading, and it is so companionable. Occasionally Isfain stands up from his chair, vanishes, and reappears to sit back down again a few minutes later.

One thing he does not do, though, is go to bed.

Not on his own he wouldn't, no.

But when she's tired, she gives a loud yawn and then flops dramatically over his feet.

Oh no she is so charming and also soft. Whatever will he do.

"That," yawn, "is probably a sign that we should go to bed, hmm?" He leans down for a scritch, then gently scoops her up, making sure to wait for nonverbal confirmation before lifting.

She gives an affirmative yip and nestles into his arms for transport.

Scoop! Off to bed they go!

"I think I'm onto something, the implication is definifsdfhlzzzzzzzz," he says, literally falling asleep in the middle of a word.

Oh goodness, that's so cute.

She makes sure he's tucked in, then nestles into bed next to him to sleep. Cute.