"So," she said, dropping a thick stack of books on the table, "Which book did you want to look through? If you're smart enough to pick vegetables- and quite well, I might add- surely you're smart enough to read a book. At this point, I'm convinced you're capable of doing well enough at anything you try your hand at. You've got a pretty impressive mind in that fluffy noggin of yours, Chat."

She knocked twice, gently, on his head with a smile, and he gave her one in return- although he wasn't sure if it looked like a smile. He was in a different body, after all. She stroked his head absently as she spread the books out in front of her, listing off the titles. "These are the most promising books I have. There are more stored away, but for now we'll start with these. There's Flora and Fauna: a Guide to Easy Nature-Based Spells, Simple Spells for Sick Animals, The Wild: Spells to Keep You Safe, Hexes for Hornets and other Animal-Related Magics, and The Complete Glossary of Known Spells: Volume Four- Familiars, Animals, and Monsters. Which one would you want, Chat? I'll probably start with The Wild- It's more about starting fires and whatnot, so I'll just go through it real quick to make sure it isn't in there. Knock it off the list, you know?"

Deliberating for a moment, Adrien decided to go for the glossary. This one was most likely to list the spell, and from there they could figure out what they might need to complete the spell- no other books required. He would have to go through quite a few spells that had absolutely nothing to do with what he wanted, though, which was the drawback.Cut out the middleman, he mused as he touched a paw to the book's cover. With a small laugh, Marinette reached over him to grab it.

"Now, where to put it?" Humming to herself, she looked around her desk for a moment, considering something, before giving a quick ah-hah! and propping it up on a box, tilted slightly, facing the window. "Now you just lie on the window sill above it! You're nice and comfortable in the sun, you've got good lighting, you can easily see the whole page, and you should be able to flip the pages."

Picking his way through the items scattered across the desk, he jumped neatly over a book and up onto the window sill, shifting around unto he found a good, comfortable position that allowed him the mobility to turn pages without shifting his whole body. Pulling up the top cover, he heaved the leather over- it was more so how unwieldy it was than the actual weight of the thing- and paused to figure out how to approach this. Did he want to start at C, for cat and communication? S for speech? A for animal? He swished his tail, thinking. With a sigh, he decided to just work his way through the book. Better to be safe then sorry- and the spell they wanted could very well be under some very strange name. He'd probably have ended up doing this anyway, to be honest. Page one it was, then. Flipping past a few pages of nothingness towards the start, he found the first page listing of spells and settled in. Spells about aardvarks and something called an aardwolf, spells to imitate a creature's abilities(which he privately decided to look into) and spells for warding off a variety of alphabetically organized magical creatures of the more disturbing sort. After a bit he made it to the spells beginning with B. Babbling brook monsters and Butterflies and Baby animals. He shifted a bit, flipping a page while waving his tail back and forth methodically.

By the time he had reached C, Marinette had finished looking through her own book, snapping it shut with a bright smile. "Looks like I was right- didn't find the spell! There was a rather interesting spell in there that seemed like a dowsing rod for berries, nuts, mushrooms, tubers- the like. I think I might try that out soon, before winter hits and all the plants go out of season."

Setting the book to the side, a small piece of yellow ribbon poking out of the pages, she grabbed another book. With that, he looked back to the book, flipping page after page. By D, his pelt started to feel a little too hot in the rising sun. By E, he was starting to get thirsty. By the time he had hit elephant-related spells, he was parched, so he made his way down to the water bowl on the floor. Lapping up some water- an act that always felt wrong and somewhat embarrassing, to tell the truth- he quickly finished and decided to walk around for a minute to stretch his legs before he had to settle back down for who knows how long.

Strolling around aimlessly, he noticed the small cupboard stuffed full with books. The door was slightly ajar, so he nosed it open until it was large enough for him and then walked in. Peering at the titles, he silently thanked Plagg for his dark vision as he looked for anything promising Marinette might have missed. Nothing looked particularly interesting, though. Mostly books on things Marinette liked or would want to know for everyday life- gardening, both magical and mundane, spells for easy cooking and cleaning and preserving foods, a few non-magic cookbooks(several of them specifically dessert cookbooks) hiding among the magic titles. There were also quite a few books on things like sewing, dyeing, and designing by both magical and non-magical authors, and the titles to his right- nearly half the remaining titles- seemed to be potion recipe books or relating to potions. Made sense- she was a whiz in the kitchen and always came out with incredible-smelling dishes and what were doubtlessly delicious desserts, though he wouldn't know. It wasn't like she was offering him anything that might make him sick, which ruled out a lot of desserts for different reasons, and he wouldn't be able to really tell if it was good or not anyways- cats can't taste sweet things, though that was beside the point. If she could make dishes that easily, he was sure potions were perfect for her, as they would allow her to prepare things ahead of time and use at her leisure rather than expending her energy on things that could just as easily be prepared as a potion.

However, an initial glance didn't find any spellbooks that looked like they would in any way be helpful, so he sighed and made his way out of the little cupboard, jumping back to where he had been. Marinette glanced up, giving him a sweet, apologetic smile as she reached out to stroke his ear before turning back to her book. He shifted a little, feeling hot already, although the sun's rays didn't seem much warmer than before. Strange. Not much happened after that but for the tedious flipping of pages, and he finally- finally! Made it through the book hours later, at about noon. Despite this, he had found absolutely nothing that would be helpful, and it was clear that Marinette hadn't either, though she had made it through the remainder of the books.

Offering Adrien a tired, hopeful glance from where her head lay on the desk, she sounded almost pleading as she asked him if he would like to go for a walk into the village to clear their heads and take a break away from the books. He practically jumped for the door, and he waited anxiously for her as she straightened her hair and grabbed a small bag. And with that, they were out, breathing in the fresh air appreciatively and enjoying the brisk air, crisp and chill and smelling vaguely of mint and the last flowers and dead leaves. Adrien found himself practically prancing along the trail to town, glad to be free of that massive book. He never was much of a reader. Noticing Marinette shiver slightly as a particularly cool breeze went by, he brushed against her leg to catch her attention, then stared at her shoulders until she caught the hint and picked him up. He doubted it did much to help her with the chill, but it had to do something. Plus, he liked being up high again. He sort of missed being able to see things from above, even if he hadn't really cared about his height before.

Soon enough, they came out of the last bend in the path, and leaves became brick pathways. Now that they were there, though, neither of them really had any idea of what to do, so the two ended up aimlessly meandering around town. Rounding a corner, they found a few storefronts, including a bookstore to their right, and Marinette made a beeline for it the moment she noticed it. Pushing the door open gently, she looked around for a moment before seeing the cookbooks, and she headed directly for those. He smoothly jumped down from her shoulders, curious about what else the little shop had. Cookbooks, of course, along with books on wild plants identification, horse care, gardening, and even things like books of nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Eventually, he ended up wandering back over to the cooking section, finding Marinette leaning against the wall with a cookbook open in front of her, examining the recipes inside. Climbing back onto her shoulder, he peered at the names of the recipes. Things like thumbprint cookies and hearty stews and some sort of healthy drink thing that apparently was said to have healing benefits.

He wasn't particularly interested, so he waited until Marinette snapped the book shut and went to the owner to pay, but he suddenly felt like he was missing something obvious. Fluffing out his coat, he decided to simply ignore it and shifted so he had a better position. He squinted a bit at the bright light as they walked out, book in hand and money bag slightly lighter. They strolled down the path together, simply looking at the various storefronts, until they eventually hit the end of the path, leading to the town's houses. There wasn't much to see down that way, so Marinetre simply turned around and started making her way back. Adrien still couldn't shake the feeling he was missing something, and it was starting to get quite irritating. Grumbling slightly- which just came out as a quiet growl- he scrunched up his face in thought, trying to figure out just what it was that was niggling at the back of his mind. Since he was too busy making strange, mushed-up faces and not paying attention to the world around him, he completely missed it when Marinette sharply veered to the left, and was abruptly drawn back to Earth when Marinette called out.

"Alya!" The girl in question jumped started, then twirled around excitedly, abandoning whatever she had been looking at.

"Oh hey girl! How have you been?"

"Pretty good! And you?" Adrien nodded at Alya in greeting.

"Not bad, that's for sure! I saw Nino again, the other day, and again just two days before that. He's a total sweetheart. I think I'll try and ask him on a date the next time- why wait when you could shoot your shot?"

Marinette laughed, quickly covering her mouth as the laugh turned into an undignified snort. "Good for you, Alya. He seems like a good match for you- a little calm to match your wild."

Alya huffed, acting like she was offended, but a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Wild? No more wild than you! I'm not the one with a cat for a scarf and a leaf sticking out of her hair." Marinette laughed brightly, then seemed to process what Alya had said and reached up to slap at her head, turning red in embarrassment when she heard the telltale crinkle of a dead leaf. Running her fingers through her hair hurriedly, she nearly knocked him off her shoulders. Noticing this half a moment later, she rushed to keep him from falling- but the sudden movement was exactly what sent him tumbling down. She caught him, though, hair falling down and brushing his nose. He sneezed. Caught off guard, Marinette burst out laughing.

"That… was-" she wheezed for a moment, carefully placing him back on her shoulders as she fought to control her laughter.

"That was the cutest little sneeze! And you looked so startled at falling-" she cut off again, trembling with laughter. If Adrien were human, he'd be blushing bright red. Out of embarrassment. Right? He hid his head in her neck, letting her hair hide his face from view, the word cute echoing in his head. It took him a fair bit to clear his head, so he missed a lot of the conversation, but he caught onto the last bit.

"-just can't seem to find the sp- recipe. I've looked all through my books, but I can't seem to find it. I know I saw it somewhere, but I just can't seem to find it now that I want to. It's so frustrating, honestly."

Alya had been listening with a sort of detached interest, but she started when Marinette said recipe. She looked a little pensive after that, as if she had found deeper meaning in the sentence- which was strange- but she shook herself out of it in time to hear the rest and respond.

"Maybe it's somewhere you haven't looked- I'd you've gone through all your cookbooks, then maybe it's in a book on…. I don't know, hosting fancy parties or something silly like that. You keep looking- I'm sure you'll find it. But for now, I've got places to be. See you next time, girl! Bye!" Twiddling her fingers cheerily at Marinette, she left to go do whatever she had to be doing, and Marinette continued on home. Now the feeling that he was missing something had doubled, and he was starting to get irritated. It wasn't like they were going to find the spell in some book on house parties- or in the cookbooks, for that matter. He purred quietly to himself, watching trees in front of him as they grew closer. Spells in a cookbook. Spells didn't need ingredients, or cooking times, or temperatures. Potions, on the other hand, did need those things- potion books weren't too far off from cookbooks, really. Potion books.

He cursed. Or he meant to, but it wasn't like he could speak wor- that wasn't the point. The point was that they were both oblivious idiots, and that they both forgot potions existed. Why in Tikki's name had neither of them thought to look somewhere so obvious? He had walked into a closet full of potion books earlier, by all the gods! Gauging his distance from the ground, he carefully made the jump, startling Marinette. Flicking his tail towards the trail, he started running. After a moment, she joined him, a little behind him but fast nonetheless. They got home a few minutes later, and Adrien felt like he was going to collapse. Instead, he waited impatiently as Marinette unlocked the door, dashing through it the moment it was cracked wide enough for him to fit. The door was still ajar, so he wormed his way in, peering at the titles displayed. Putrid Potions, Concoctions to Cure, Dangerous Herbs for Honorable Deeds, Rather Safe Than Sorry: Potions of Protection- he stopped. Jumping up to the correct shelf, he stood next to a book labeled Potions for Pets. Stabbing at it with his tail, Marinette quickly pulled it out and into better light.

"Potions for- oh! How did I not think of that! Potions, it was so obvious…" grumbling more to herself, she tucked the book under one arm and bit her lit, searching for other titles. Once she had a stack of seven or eight, she gave the shelves one more glance before turning to the desk, dropping them without a second thought. Plucking the top two off the stack- Animal Potions for Care and Handling as well as Claws and Paws- Brews for Your Beasts. Setting up the second one for him, she promptly opened up hers, scouring through the book. They sat in a companionable silence for a bit, flipping through the pages much faster than before. Spellbooks could have far more spells in the same amount of space compared to a potion book, so Adrien had finished his rather quickly. Marinette followed soon after, grabbing him the next in the stack as she got another for herself. He was just about to close the cover on his second book when Marinette cried out, excited. Holding up the book for him to see, she tapped excitedly on the name of the chapter- Animal Communication Potions. He yowled out in excitement, jumping over to watch as she thumbed through the pages, finally landing on one labeled Feline Communication Potion. Not the most creative name, but Adrien could let it slide. He finally had the chance to talk to her! She scooped him up, planting a kiss right on the top of his head.

"Soon, I'll be able to see what's happening in that smart little head right there." She let him go after that, but he simply lay there, processing, so she stroked his head gently. After far too long spent trying to figure out what to do, he ended up staying right there, enjoying being so close to her as they watched the trees rustle in the wind.

A/N: Sorry it was late! I'm only just finishing this now, haha. Up until this chapter, I've had it all stockpiled. This time, I was writing as I went. I may be late next week, too, but if that happens, I'll post a standalone oneshot to make up for it. Bug out!