"It's not a fear, it's a hatred!"

A boat. A thrice-damned boat. They expected him to get. On. A. Boat.

Well... it wasn't actually the boat that bothered him. It was what the boat would be floating in.

Water.

Barely stifling the urge to shiver at the mere thought of the devil liquid, he scowled at his father, the elder shapeshifter taking too much enjoyment from his pain. "You are going to have to get over your fear at some point, Ren." He intoned, the serious air tempered by the quite obvious mirth shining in eyes similar to Ren's vivid green.

"It's not a fear, it's a hatred!" The feline shapeshifter ground out, all but glaring holes into his father's head before huffing softly. "Besides, taking a boat seems quite inefficient. Surely there's a quicker way...?"

"The wards around the islands do not permit for such travel. It is by boat, or not at all." Was it just him, or did his father sound particularly smug this time?

"Fine. I will take the boat." He acquiesced as gracefully as he could manage, shooting his father one last glare before retiring to his room to finish preparing, sauntering down the grand halls and corridors of the ancient Constantyne Manor with a feigned confidence he didn't feel, particularly in the face of the imminent journey.

Of course, it was easier said than done, as Ren, in all his mischievousness, pulled out all the stops to avoid going by boat. The car they had taken to the port suddenly found its tires slashed and its engine smoking. When they finally arrived, everyone that had gone to bid their farewells was sporting different colored hair, clothes switched with the person next to them, or other such effects of harmless pranks. During the pandemonium, he'd hoped to escape in his cat form, but his mother-- she seemed to be feeling just as sadistic as his father-- suddenly scooped him up before he could hightail it out of there.

He was then unceremoniously set down on the boat, which immediately began its journey so he wouldn't have time to try and escape again.

All in all, it was a delay of several hours that, instead of arriving in time to start the day with his peers, had Renato walking into the admissions office sometime after noon. He was white as a sheet, one hand clenched tightly around the strap to his bag while the other was shoved into his pants pocket to hide the slight tremble.

"Name?" The woman behind the desk asked dully, barely glancing up from her computer, the screen illuminating her facee and reflecting oddly off of her reading glasses.

"<a href='http://159.65.241.122/index.php?showtopic=6923&hl=' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Renato Constantyne</a>." He murmured quietly in response, knowing that any louder and his voice would shake; he still wasn't quite himself after that traveling experience.

"You're late." Her tone was curt, as if he was at fault, not only for being late, but for everything bad that had happened so far.

"Ah... There were... complications." was his somewhat stilted answer, features tugging into a scowl at the rather standoffish attitude. Nevertheless, he remained silent as she busied herself with gathering all of the papers he needed, a glimpse of computer screen showing his schedule and a small map of the academy buildings.

"Here you are. Have a nice day." With that, she handed him the bundle of papers, not bothering to see if he needed further help before returning her attention to the computer.

Muttering under his breath about the idiocy of inconsiderate people, Ren all but fled from the office, absentmindedly studying the map as he took a deep breath to calm himself. Slowly but surely, as he began to walk down the hall, he reassembled his usual facade, his trademark roguish grin replacing the annoyance and remnants of fear and his stride becoming more confident, bordering on arrogant. 'Might as well make a strong first impression, hm?' He thought to himself, humming tunelessly as he walked.

So focused was Ren that he didn't notice the stranger until the last possible moment, barely managing to stop himself from becoming visibly startled. As it were, he let out a sharp exhale, the sound oddly similar to a cat's hiss, and paused, turning to study the person that had stopped him. He noted a bit sourly that he had to look up at him, cursing his own relatively short stature. 'Growth spurt my foot, father.' He mentally groused, smoothly fixing a confident grin to his lips.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." He hummed unconcernedly, waving the other away almost flippantly while silently working to calm himself down; his nerves were still a bit frayed, which resulted in a rather jumpy feline shapeshifter.

Still, he was much too stubborn to admit that the layout of the Academy confused him somewhat-- he was sure he would grow accustomed to it with time, especially if he had the time to explore the grounds in his cat form--, nor did he care to so blatantly ask for help or guidance. However...

"Though, I wouldn't mind spending time with you, big guy." He offered his hand, poison green eyes glinting with mischief. "You can call me Ren~"

There. That should do it. Now, if the stranger was nice enough to help him around regardless, it wouldn't seem as if it was Ren who had asked for such help. No, Ren would only appear to be flirting with him, which was fine with him. That was his whole image, after all, the careless trickster of a playboy. Besides, this guy seemed like he knew what he was doing, so he must have been attending the Academy for a while, or at least longer than Ren. Becoming acquaintances-- he rarely had actual friends-- would be beneficial. It wasn't because he knew he would become hopelessly lost. It wasn't. Really.

Ren nearly pouted at the lack of reaction, though he supposed that was the most telling reaction of all. He wasn't discouraged despite that, keeping the wide grin but shrugging and allowing his hand to slide back into his pocket.

"No, really, I have a stellar sense of direction. It'll be fine." He reassured, gesturing to the map, then paused, as if in thought. "But... if you insist, I suppose I could take a tour with you. I'm sure you know of all the fun places to hang out, yeah?"

He spared another moment to compose himself once again, finding the stranger's-- Miralis, he reminded himself-- confusion oddly funny. Of course, it wouldn't do to actually laugh, since that might be taken as rude and who knew what sort of powers this guy had.

"Nice to meetcha, Miralis." He hummed, quickly grinning once more to hide the mental flinch at the mention of being shipped. 'Thrice-damned water. I'm not afraid. I just hate it. I hate it with the white-hot passions of a thousand burning suns.'

Even during his little inner monologue of denial, he shook his head, a faintly amused chuckle escaping him. "No, nothing like that, though I do suppose I am meant to learn. I'm searching for someone who will become important to me, like nearly all of my family before me, and was accepted into the Academy mainly to help said search." He seemed quite impassioned as he spoke, a much more genuine light filling his bright green eyes. "I imagine I'll also learn how to hone the abilities I'll gain once I finally do find that person."

Shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts, not wanting to become too hopeful and end up not finding the one most compatible to him, and gave a Cheshire cat-like smirk. "I'm also a feline shapeshifter; I can turn into a black cat."

"What about you? What're you here for, hm?"

Hn. Did this guy want to shoot down every one of his excuses? What a spoilsport. Though, the guy's words clearly hinted that he wasn't human, so maybe he didn't understand his brush off attempts. Or maybe that was just the way he was. Who knew?

Ah, the latter idea seemed to be at least partially correct, since the guy-- really, he had to remember to think of him as Miralis, since any other sort of nickname seemed to faze him a bit-- appeared to be used to said rude behavior. Still... it was a novel idea, him, Ren, being called polite. Usually, he tried going for thoughtless or careless, but polite? And from someone he'd just met? It certainly was a new one, that was for sure.

His earlier suspicions were quickly proved to be right as he listened to the somewhat curt explanation of what he was. Normally, he wouldn't act so perceptive, but he could tell it was a rather off-limits topic, and while it might have been amusing to push someone else, the possibilities and potential the guy had as an informant/acquaintance had him pausing.

After all, if he was basically some sort of humanoid robot, then wouldn't he be able to know so much more about the students, the staff, the very school itself? Such information may prove to be invaluable in his search, and he was extremely reluctant to chase off anything, or anyone, like that.

And so, instead of chasing after the larger male and pestering him for answers, he merely shrugged and picked up his bag from where he'd set it down at his side, glancing down at the map once more.

"Ah, fair enough. I suppose I'll see you around, then, yeah? I'll be looking forward to that tour, once I finally find my dorm room..."