The Morning Field

It was the morning routine.

The wind skimmed across the field. Long slender legs slipped through the waving grass while the morning sun cast a golden highlight on each green blade. The feline's shoulder blades sashayed under the spotted fur coat and his tail swayed behind him with his languid stroll. The wind blew again, and the field rolled. The big cat picked up it's pace, answering the beckon. The world stilled and the cheetah flew.

With a leap, he gained his speed. With each stride, his flexible spine loaded enough power in his hind legs to shoot him farther. Ndale felt how his lungs filled through his large nostrils and how his heart pumped blood through his body with each beat. He was low to the ground, gliding over the grassy floor at nearly 67 miles per hour, racing the wind. Nearing the tree-line, the cheetah turned sharply. Nails dug into the ground and his tail swung as a rudder. Ndale was immediately darting parallel to the way he had come.

The strain came gradually. His body was hot and his mind was fuzzy, only guided by the single-mindedness of just running. His muscles tired and his heart threatened to strike. Despite the will to run forever, the need to stop won. Ndale slowed his pace, reluctantly falling into a trot, then a walk, panting. Plopping down on his side, the cheetah basked in the sun, letting his temperature fall with every heavy breath. There was a certain satisfaction in his speed, and he let it settle over him.

He sighed, content, as the wind played with his fur as it did the grass around him.

Looking through the grass blades, he noticed a spotted whiz fly past.

The feline looked so graceful....

Aesis didn't know what to think of Ndale now.

As a feline, he was impossible to resist with the beauty of his nature...however....

...as a male when human, he was irritating.

He blushed for a moment, shook his head, then sat down nearby.

Questionably, Aesis set aside the thought and went back to gazing at Ndale.

"I guess, for now... I should appreciate his feline side..." he thought to himself.

Looking back at Ndale, he'd wondered what Ndale was to him..
---
[AMG I THINK I FAILED /bricked]

Ndale's ear twitched. In the silence of motionless relaxing, there was a slight disturbance. He opened his eyes to see nothing but grass from this viewpoint. Lifting his head, he turned to observe the field. The gaze of the feline that was used to picking out prey in a plain was quick to spot the seated elf. Ndale's ear's pitched forward in interest as their eyes locked. The elf was staring at him somewhat intently, apparently in thought. It took a moment for the cheetah to wonder if he was dreaming. He decided against it, seeming as if this were a dream he wouldn't have stopped running, and so it took another moment to wonder what the boy was doing here.

As far as Ndale knew, no one really knew that he came out here every morning to run, though it was possible that the boy had just stumbled upon him. The cheetah rose from his position, feeling much cooler than before already - there appeared to be something to like about the cooler temperatures from the north as compared to where he had been raised in South Africa. Adopting again the slow and fluid stride of his species, Ndale strolled over to the elf, keeping his eyes on Aesis's eyes. It was only a gamble that the elf wouldn't run away now that he had been noticed, but it really couldn't be helped. Ndale wasn't about to just run and laze about alternately while the boy just watched.

(( nah. xD was cute! ))

Apparently Ndale noticed him, because the feline began strutting towards him.

"Eh....you..."

He was going to come back with a rude comment, but couldn't think of any whilst Ndale was in his cheetah form.

The only thing to do now, was watch....at a safe distance.
---
[Stalking= observing...just at a close distance.]
---
[ORLY? o.O And sorry for short post, it's 12 AM, I need to wake up at 6am, and uh... xD Idk. -snore-]

Ndale hesitated as the elf made some sort of effort to say something, but seeming as nothing resembling a sentence was produced, he continued forward. The cheetah stopped in front of Aesis, within arm distance but far enough away that personal space was still respected. His chest was still heaving air significantly, inflating and deflating noticeably with each breath, but he wasn't panting anymore.

The field around them continued on to rolling gently in the breeze, and the sun, continually rising higher, warmed the feline's back. With the electric tingles still running through his muscles, the elated happiness stretched along his spine was growing and reached the base of his skull, sending a long shiver through his limbs.

It hit Ndale like a brick. He figured that he had liked this elf based on how cute he was, but there were other cute people here as well. It wasn't exactly the skin color either, because he certainly didn't like Valentin in that way. No, but the attraction to the green haired boy had finally been sorted. It was that he didn't know what would happen. Others were strangely predictable; he never knew if the elf would accept him at this moment or reject him. It's a chase; it's a hunt; it is fun.

Ndale still stared, ears forward in interest, tail flicking casually, as if asking 'You've got my full attention, now what?'

Stealing another peek at the cat, he'd thought Ndale was expectant...for something.

He sighed, obviously taking the feline's intention wrong, and summoned a banana to feed to the big cat. Not sure he would eat it, Aesis just nudged the banana with his hand towards Ndale's head.

"Eat up, or you'll go skinny from all that running, and a bird will mistaken you for a deer and eat you." He said, not intending to scare the feline, but in pure fun.

He then summoned up a banana for himself to eat, glanced up at the sky, and began to masticate the fruit.

Ndale gave the elf a flat look. That was it? A banana? Sides, he couldn't even peel it at the moment. He rolled his eyes dramatically and shook his head in the negative, heaving a sigh.

"I have no idea what you just said." The feline looked up at Aesis doubtfully. "You don't have any idea of what I say though either, do you?" He grumpily flicked his tail back and forth, wanting to talk with the boy, to let the elf know more about himself and the other way around. The one person he was actually interested in learning about, and they couldn't communicate. 'Pheh. Irony.'

He sighed roughly again, looking a little longingly at Aesis, before letting himself literally fall over onto his side, landing with a dull thud. Ndale was tired, and let his eyes slip shut in pleasant exhaustion. He could smell the grass and the dirt, but also the banana's, and it made made him smile slightly.

Aesis looked blankly at the feline that fell on his side.

Thinking he didn't want the banana, Aesis said:

"Fine. No banana for you. More potassium for me, I guess."

He then peeled the banana, bit a piece off, and handed off the rest of the banana to the cheetah.

"Eat up, fatty." he said, in contrast to his last insult about Ndale's anorexic figure..

---

Here on out, I'll be delayed in posting, sorry DX

But as long as my main laptop is virus-infected, I can't post as fast

Ndale opened his eyes when Aesis spoke, watched the boy take a bite of the banana and re-offer it to him. The cheetah stared at it a moment, thinking it over, before huffing in amusement and sitting up again. He tentatively bit off a small bit of the banana into his mouth, though he was quick to swallow it. In thanks, Ndale leaned in to flick out his rough tongue to catch Aesis on the cheek. The big cat then proceeded to try and crawl his way on to the seated boy's lap, intending to push the elf over and pin him with his weight to nuzzle him into the ground, a rather playful act amongst cheetahs.

(( sorry, it's short, and it's okay, just post whenever you can. ^^ I understand. ))

"H-Hey, what do you want-?" he said, as he felt the roughness of the tongue that lifted against his cheek.

Wiping the slobber off his face, the cheetah began pawing onto his lap....

Aesis stared at the cheetah, hoping he wasn't that heavy.

Looking back at the banana, he finished it up; after all, we don't want a fresh banana to go to waste.

The feline pushed his forehead against the elf's chest, forcing the boy down as the cat literally invaded. Laying down, Ndale placed most of his 60 kg of weight on the elf, using the poor boy as a bed or pillow.

He chuckled as the boy wiped his cheek where he had licked him, so, he figured, why not do it again? The devious grin was the only warning Aesis might have had as the cheetah affectionately gave many cheetah-kisses to the elf's face.

"Wh-Whoa!" Aesis shouted, as he fell over on his back due to the cat's weight.

"...Ndale, you stupid fatty."

After feeling all those cheetah kisses, he laughed. He didn't bother wiping them off, as Ndale might have the tongue force pummeling his face again.

He tried to lightly push Ndale off of his body, but didn't want to seriously hurt him.

So, he left Ndale there, and set his head on another patch of grass.

"Really, what am I going to do with you?"

Grinning, Ndale watched as Aesis laughed. He hardly budged due to the small pushing the elf attempted, and chuckled airily when the boy gave up. Ndale lowered his head to rub his fur covered cheek against Aesis's dark skinned one.

"You're warming up to me, 'I-owu'." The big cat pured loudly, the sound vibrating through his throat and chest. Resting his head down on Aesis's shoulder, Ndale lay comfortably, enjoying the wind and his new company. "See, this isn't so bad." He let out a pleasant sigh.

(( I-owu is slang in Zulu for boyfriend. xP ))

Irritated look on his face, Aesis scoffed at the cheetah. He glanced up to the sky.

A frown appeared on his face seconds afterwards.

"It looks like it's going to rain..." he muttered silently.

Ndale sputtered and shook his head when a rouge raindrop hit the tip of his nose. He shivered from the wind and looked up at the sky. He gave it a pointed flat look and cursed it silently.

'Okay, what did I do this time? You can't let me enjoy a good moment, can you? Stupid...'

The cheetah had to squint his eyes as the rain started falling faster, patting down his fur in a way that would soon be most annoying. A growl lingered in his throat as a few drops pecked his snout again, and again he shook his head to cast them off in annoyance. Ndale rose to his feet, releasing Aesis from underneath him, and reached down to lightly grasp the boy's shirt with his teeth. Tugging slightly, he urged the boy to get up before he himself stepped off from over the elf. Backing away a few steps to give Aesis room, he waited for the green haired boy to head back to the castle.

The rain began as a simple drizzle, then into a downpour.

Ndale tugging his shirt had gotten his attention..

He'd remembered not many felines liked cats...

So, he picked up the fat cat, wrapped his cloak around most of Ndale, and randomly ran towards the castle, hoping to find shelter fast.

"ACH-OOOOO!" He sneezed, whilst rushing to find a dry place.

Ndale wasn't prepared to be swept up into Aesis's arms. He was by no means a small cat, and while pressed to the elf's chest, wrapped around a cloak (for the most part), Ndale tried to stay as still as possible. He jumped as the elf sneezed roughly, and felt bad slightly. He looked around to try and spot an area where they might be able to get out of the rain.

They were fast coming upon the North Foyer Entry. If Ndale remembered correctly, there was a bathroom just inside there where they could get towels. The cheetah nudged at Aesis's arm to get the boy's attention and then pointed his nose in the direction of the castle entrance.

"Huh?" Aesis said after Ndale nudged him and 'pointed' in a random direction.

Well, he probably knows where to go anyways.

"Shut up, inner conscience." he thought to himself.

However, his only hope to get them both out of the rain was to follow his directions.

He began to head towards the direction Ndale had pointed out.

Ndale squirmed slightly, trying to get his head back under the cloak and away from the rain. Luckily, he could see the stairs to the North door, and shelter was not far off. He listened to the elf's breathing and watched the boy's face through the opening in the cloak as he ran.

Huffing, Ndale pressed his face to Aesis's chest, closing his eyes tight, and just trusting the elf to get them inside the doors.

He noticed up ahead, a set of stairs.

He hustled him and his luggage towards the stairs as fast as possible; the sooner they find a shelter, the better.
---

As he reached the steps, they led up towards a door.

Aesis sneezed once again from the cold rain.
--

[sorz short post DX]

Ndale opened his eyes again as they bounced up the stairs and passed under the overhang. The rain was less here, only occasionally entering when the wind blew particularly strong in the right direction. The doors were just there, but they made Ndale have a thought: if they entered the castle, then he would probably lose his alone time with Aesis, who was seemingly just starting to warm up to him.

With the relative protection of the overhang, Ndale leaned up to nuzzle the elf's face, giving a lick to his cheek, in thanks, before squirming to roll out of the boy's arms. It wasn't exactly that he wanted to leave the comfortable embrace, but he wanted to be able to guide Aesis to a preferable area of the castle. There was one room in particular that the cheetah boy wanted to show the elf, another place he had found on his wanders and liked to sneak away into sometimes. Of course, it wasn't exactly a secret room, just a room that no one found much particular use in going to often.

Once on the ground, Ndale shook out his fur and pawed at the door. The entrances were too big for his to try and pry open with teeth and paws, unlike most the other doors inside the castle.

After Ndale slipped out of his grasp, he walked up to the doorway ahead.

His hands full, he tossed his cloak at Ndale and opened the door Ndale pitifully couldn't open with claws...but he had an excuse at least.

Swinging it open, he took his cloak again, and walked inside, and turned back towards Ndale, waiting expectantly for him to enter so that he could close the door.

Ndale blinked, not used to being used as a cloak hanger, if only briefly, and trotted through the open door. Ndale looked up to Aesis and started towards a hall with a few doors. With a little bit of fussing, Ndale entered the first door: a bathroom. He was only a moment before he returned, walking upon two legs, with a towel draped over his head. He was dressed in a pair of loose black pants that were wrinkled from being wrapped tightly around the cheetah's leg for safe keeping.

The boy looked at the elf, more drenched than he was because the green haired boy had taken care to cover the cheetah with the cloak, and looked away blushing almost guiltily. Ndale approached to wrap a second towel over Aesis's head, smiling warmly.

"Thank you." He didn't know if the elf would understand, but he felt better saying it anyway.

He shut the door after Ndale had advanced into the hallway. Leaning his head against the door, he breathed very loudly.

"Geh...why couldn't I just leave him outside.." he thought.

Shortly afterwards, when the towel clapped onto his head, he turned to look at Ndale, smiling.

"Ehh....leave me al- ACCHOO!" he sneezed again, at Ndale.

Ndale uttered another word, and Aesis stared at him a bit.

He then turned away and said, "No need to thank me, you'd be fine anyways..."