Drinks of Red

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Slipping down in to the basement, the feline's bare feet padded almost inaudible on the stone floor. The cat's pupils became huge to see in the low light and he expertly navigated his way to the cellar. Pausing to open the creaking wooden door, he entered a chilled room with racks of various old and expensive wines.

Ndale smirked and casually strolled down the first row, finger trailing over the bottles. With a confident air, he turned to see if Raye was still following him and gestured to the bottles with a flourish and a raised brow.

"Well? Which would you like?" He grinned, there was quite a mass selection to choose from. "I'm pretty much okay with most down here, though, I'm thinking maybe a rich red wine?" He tilted his head in a seemingly gentlemanly manner, though it was daring. He was allowing her to pick her poison, really.

Raye sighed as she followed Ndale down into a chilled room. She tugged the bunched up sleeves of her jacket down her arms until they fell past her hands. As a wolf the cold didn't bother her much but as a human she was quite sensitive to the cold. She snuggled in the over large jacket, enjoying the warmth. She'd probably resort to stealing Ndale's body heat at some point but for the moment she'd make do with the jacket.

With being as clumsy as an Ox, Raye was very hesitant to walk down the isles of very breakable wine bottles. She'd probably do something stupid like trip over a non-existent pebble and straight into the racks. She could picture herself doing that all too vividly.

She bit her lip and shook her head with another sigh at his question already regretting following him. "Red wine is out of the question," she said instantly. Red wine was the worst.

Resigning herself, she padded down the isle carefully, occasionally pulling a bottle of wine from the rack to look at the labels. "Don't suppose there's any rice wine here, ne? Amazake? Choujiu? Mijiu? Sake?" She was hopeful. She could handle rice wine just fine.

She eventually found a Rosé wine that she hoped wouldn't be too bad. She held it out by the neck and gave Ndale a flat look. "I do not hold myself responsible for anything I do/say/try to make you do while under the influence of this wine. I apologise now for anything stupid I may do and I promise that if you leave me down here in an embarrassing situation or I find myself somewhere other than here, my room or yours when I wake up I will skin you alive and use you as a rug." Her face was straight. She was dead serious.

Ndale gave a somewhat putout pout at the refusal of red wine, crossing his arms, though it was obvious he was playing by the smirk that he didn't quite hide. He leaned casually against a wooden rack and waited patiently as Raye scanned the bottles, tail flicking mischievously behind him.

"No rice wine, sorry." He said simply in a smug air.

As the Rosé wine was held out to him, he took it smoothly, stepping up closer to Raye to look down at her with a cocky smirk. He was familiar with Rosé brands, the Southern France had a few nice ones he had enjoyed.
"Perfect." His smirk grew wider and he glanced at the bottle. "Don't worry so much, love. You can't make me do anything, and I wont make you do anything. We're having a simple...friendly...casual drink. Honestly, you're making it sound like I intend to ravish you." The feline's amused stare was intent and his eyebrow quirked up the slightest. He broke it with a chuckle as he ripped off the foil over the cork. He brought it to his mouth and, placing the cork between his teeth, opened the bottle with a firm pull and twist. It was obviously something he had done before, the move was practiced. The liquid inside sloshed a little and he tilted it towards Raye, offering her the first sip, cork still hanging out the side of his smirk like a sort of cigar.

The Jinn's wolf ears drooped almost comically but her facail expression twisted into naught more than a pout. "Then you need to stock some rice wine."

At his words she groaned and rubbed a hand over her face. "It's not you ravishing me that I'm worried about, Ō chītā yō-juu," she admitted through the hand over her mouth.

Raye got a little too friendly when she had wine. Usually she reserved wine for when she knew she was going to only be with Ix or Chaye. Once while she was drinking with Ix, Zal had appeared. And apparently they had a mind blowing threesome. A mind blowing threesome she could not for the life of her remember.

"You've done that a few times," she observed, taking the bottle from him and tipping it to her lips. She looked down at the mouth of the bottle and the liquid inside that was sloshing with the very small movements of her hand. "Well, bottoms up, I guess." And with that she took a sip. A very small sip.

...I hope I remember what I do. I dont want to have to never look him in the eyes again.

"Rice wine isn't a specialty around here. White and Red are what we have. Prolly some Scotch and Amaretto. We're in Scotland, hun." Ndale gave an airy huff, speaking around the stopper in his mouth. At her mumbled confession, the cheetah raised both his eyebrows at the girl, playing with the cork, using his tongue to roll it between his lips from the side to the front. He grinned around it and turned his head to the side before spitting it out. It shot off into the corner and disappeared in a shadow.

"A few." He conceded with a wink.

"Ohh...I see. Well, still, I don't think you should worry." He purred out. "I can handle myself. Sharing one bottle wont get me drunk so badly that I can't remember what I'm doing." He tilted his head in a superior fashion, giving her small sip a rather unimpressed quirk of his brow. Still, he didn't push it and turned with a grace on his heel. Going to the wall, he leaned back against it and slid down to the floor, tail coming to curl and rest over his bare feet. The stone was a bit chilly. Ndale patted the space beside him in offering for Raye to sit.

"I must admit, I am rather interested in what you will do, though."

"Well, it should be. I'm quite fold of mijui." Her nose wrinkled. "Can't stand the taste of almonds. I never got on with Amaretto." But if Amaretto and wine were the only things to drink, she'd quickly become accustomed to the taste of almonds.

"Taken many people on dates to the wine cellar, then?" she asked with a grin.

She shook her head slightly. "Hopefully it wont get me too drunk, either. But wine is unpredictable in my system. We'll see how much it takes to get me drunk this time, ne?"

At the unimpressed quirk of his brow and the quick retreat to the wall she snorted, following behind leisurely. "Wouldn't you be hesitant to drink if you knew said drink had adverse effects?" She sat next to Ndale with a little (read:lot) less grace than he exuded performing the task and held out the bottle for him to take.

"Me too. From the stories Ix and Chaye used to tell me when I recovered from the hell of a hangover I had, my actions been different but no less strange every time." She pushed her fringe back out of her face, tucking it behind her human ears. She retained her human ears even when her wolf ears came out to play.

Her face twisted in discomfort and she twisted, lifting her hips off the group and reaching under herself to pull out her tail. "I always manage to sit on it. It's a wonder I've never broken it before." Tail safely removed from under her, she settled back on the ground, stroking the furry appendage as if in apology.

Ndale chuckled lightly at Raye. "Well, no. But I do tend to drink at odd times with people with no bottle opener readily available." He glanced over her with a mischievous light. "I'll just have to try harder to get you absolutely smashed then." He was smiling, but something in his tone said he wasn't really joking. He accepted the bottle with a smirk and tipped it up to his lips to take a decently sized drink. He pulled it away and simply savored the taste a moment before sighing as the warmth spread through his chest.

Casting the woman a challenging side glance, he grinned as if to point out that that is what taking a sip really is, not that small thing she had done earlier. "Don't all alcoholic drinks have adverse effects? That's what getting drunk is." He snickered at her actions, tailing flicking happily.

"Just takes a bit of getting used to. Or has your clumsiness effected this as well?" He offered her the bottle back. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't act strange, you've got my expectations high from all you've said about your wine drinking. I'm looking forward to it, actually."

She shook her head with a pained look. "Fine. But I will skin you alive if I end up in a position I'd rather not be in." She smiled mock-pleasantly, fangs glinting in the dull light. "My room is a little bare considering it's only housing a few sets of clothes, my keys and my Kendo gear. I think an animal skin rug'll spruce it up a little, ne?"

"Too many fun things happen when you're drunk for it to be too bad. Just the odd type of drunk you've gotta watch out for. Drunk off wine is not something many people want to witness and drunk of absinthe is almost as bad." She grinned, biting her lip. "I got a tattoo last time I was drunk on absinthe. I never really got the appeal of tattoo's having had permanent markings through other means, y'know? Couldn't sit on my arse for days. Don't think I'll be going back for another one any time soon."

With very little hesitance, she took the proffered bottle and drained a larger amount than she had previously. She was gonna get pie-eyed, she knew it. Why fight the inevitable? Ignoring the jibe about her clumsiness, she grinned at the cheetah. "Well, I hope I don't disappoint then. Let's just hope no one else appears - I don't feel like scaring too many people under a drunken stupor. Maybe Od, though. From what you've said, he sounds like he might be fun." She took another sip before holding the bottle out.

Scoffing, Ndale shot Raye an incredulous look. "Wonder if I'll ever get to see that tattoo...hmm?" He grinned and chuckled.

"The odd drunk is fun though. I like not always being able to predict something. Surprises are nice once in awhile." He absently stared at his hands. "I never got the idea of tattoo's either really. But I guess that's more me already having black markings on my body." He lifted his eyes to Raye with a humorous air.

"Really...if you don't want to, you stay sober and I'll just drink the thing by myself." He put out his hand for the bottle with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. "I can understand if you're not comfortable...or too scared. Od may or may not be a good idea. On one hand, he's a great fun guy, on the other, he's hard to impress as it is and being drunk is not a good first impression."

Raye chuckled along side the cheetah. "If you can find it." She blamed Quetzalcoatl for the placement of that tattoo. She was certain that it was his idea. But it wasn't really in a hidden place. If she wore a bikini, you'd be able to see most of it. And that's what her best friend had planned, she was sure.

"I crave surprises. Even though half of them aren't really what we want to hear, ne? Ah well, without the surprises I've had I wouldn't be sat down here getting drunk with a friend." She listened with a perked ear and nodded. It was pretty hard not to see the markings.

"I'm not comfortable," she agreed. "But I'm not such a horrible drinking partner that I'd let you get drunk on your own."

"Then I'll leave the meeting and impressing until I'm sufficiently sober. God knows there are more than enough people that have bad first impressions of me as it is. And I'm sure there'll be a few more in the future. I'll try not to leave a lasting bad impression on Od."

Ndale scoffed, obviously entertained with the idea of this tattoo. He rested his elbow on his bent knee and his cheek in his palm, head turned to looked at Raye, expression very clearly amused.

"I never said I was getting drunk. I thought we agreed I was to be only slightly tipsy so that when you get drunk I can make sure nothing unseemly happens. If you really don't want to, I'm not making you. You can stop now." He shrugged lightly. He didn't really care. Sure, seeing Raye smashed would surely be interesting, but he didn't care for making people do something they would regret.

"Perhaps waiting would be best. Od is a good guy to be on good terms with. It's not horrible if he doesn't like you, but really beneficial if he does." The cheetah grinned. "He's the one who found me in Africa after I ran away from my owner. He's the one who brought me to a club. He's the one who gave me alcohol...he's pretty much the one who made me what I am actually." Ndale's grin dropped slightly and he gained a slightly thoughtful look. "You know...I should punch him for that later..."

Raye shrugged half-heartedly. "I guess we do need one of us to keep a straight head, ne?" She brushed off his offer for her to stop. She had already started drinking now, she wouldn't stop.

And if a semi-sober Ndale was there, she didn't think she had to worry about much. He didn't come across as untrustworthy.

The Jinn laughed as the cheetah listed off the different things Od had done. "So what, you were half-way innocent before OD got to you? No clubbing, no alcohol." She shook her head. "I admit, I was ignorant of it all until I was fifty. Doesn't that make me sound old?"

"You can punch him if you like but I'll be thanking him. It's nice being around people that have similar interests and pastimes." The Jinn pulled her tail onto her lap and began running her fingers through the coarse fur, tugging out knots and blades of grass she had picked up presumably when the two of them were playing tag.

Ndale hummed lightly in acknowledgement. Honestly, he didn't really enjoy getting drunk drunk. Just slightly dizzy was good, but he hated the sickness and headache if he went to far, it just wasn't worth it. He did plan on keeping control if Raye was lost to the drink though. He was pretty good at handling people, he felt confident. He laughed at Raye comments about his upbringing though.

"Well, yeah. I was just a cheetah before I met Od. Would have stayed that way too if he hadn't found me." He rolled his eyes. "Why do you think I was calling you Grandma, Grandma?" He grinned and watched out of the corner of his eyes as Raye playing with her tail. He scoffed and rolled his eyes again.

"Okay, just give me that. Watching you is painful." He sounded exasperated as he shifted to face her completely and held his hand out in gesture for her tail, not happy with the way she went about caring for it.

"Awww, but if you hadn't have met him, you wouldn't have met me and your life would be so empty," she said dramatically, grinning all the while. Raye was just over-dramatic by nature. When there was a chance to be dramatic, she'd take it.

"I may be old, Ō chītā yō-juu, but I dont look it," she chuckled, ruffling her blue hair vainly. "One of the joys of ageing like Jinn do."

She eyed him warily as he held out his hand for her tail. She didn't particularly like people other than herself and the occasional bed-partner handling her tail. It was one of her top five most sensitive body parts.

She was silent as she nudged her tail towards him.

Ndale grinned. "Oh, that would be so terrible indeed." He joked, though it was unclear exactly if he was joking that it he enjoyed knowing her or was joking that he didn't like knowing her.

"There's that. But it seems a lot of people here age strangely. Apparently looks here are incomparable to age and experience." He tilted his head as he studied Raye's face. She seemed wary handing her tail over, but Ndale paid it no mind as he gently picked it up. With one hand, he held it with care, the other hand running expertly through the fur to de-tangle and pluck grass. Somehow, with the way his fingers worked, he cleared knots without pulling on the strands. Making quick work of this, the fur was smoothed, but he still didn't release it.

Gaining a smirk, Ndale took to petting the tail, elegant fingers running over and through the grey strands in more of massaging motion than before, though he made no comment and pretended like he was still working out some knots, still staring intently down as if he were working.

She nodded. "Yeah. But Jinn have such a strange way of ageing. We age rather quickly in the beginning and then stop. There's no telling when it stops. I stopped ageing at the human equivalent of about nineteen, maybe twenty. My younger brother stopped ageing at about twelve." Her ears drooped a little at the thought of Spyridon. "And we usually stay that age until we reach two hundred. But there are rare occasions when we start ageing again. That can take years or hours. I've never witnessed it before, though."

Raye bit her lip when the fingers began pulling through her fur. She was surprised with how much care he put into grooming her. Even when she groomed herself, she always managed to pull strands out and tug at knots. It could be quite a painful experience sometimes.

The Jinn squirmed a little when the de-tangling became petting. A quiet whine slipped past her throat and she bit down harder on her lip, squirming a little more. She tried to make her body language hostile but her ears shot down any attempt she made. Her ears were always good at telling her mood - and at the moment she was in a very good mood.

Her tail began to thump against Ndale's hand and another whine sounded - much louder than the first. She may not have wanted to be treated like a pet but she could never deny how good it felt to be pet like this.

Ndale glanced up at Raye with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, well, that sounds cool and really sucky at the same time. I guess it depends on when you stop ageing though. I think you stopped at a pretty good age. late teens are fun." He grinned, air becoming quite smug at the girl's reactions to his attention on her tail. Really, had she never properly taken care of her fur? Oh, there were so many things Ndale figured he could show her. His eyes gained a mischievous light at the thought.

He tried to smother his chuckle as her tail began to try and move in his light grasp, and it became hard to hold on to it. As it slipped from his hands, the cheetah leaned in, raising a hand to slip it under her hair to her neck to rub the base of her skull in a firm but gentle manner.

To be honest, one of Ndale's favorite things was to watch someone mold to his actions. And now, he wanted to see how far he could get Raye to melt under his touch.

She nodded in agreement. "Yeah, late teens are fun. But I think I would have preferred mid twenties. More options open to you then." Being technically nineteen, she could do all she needed in England but if she travelled to America she'd have trouble doing much. Of course, being so old Raye knew how to get by. She had a number of fake ID's in her suitcase for such situations as going out clubbing in America. She usually stuck with ages between twenty two and twenty five when making fake IDs.

Raye arched into the touch on her neck with a quiet moan. "Imaimashii neko," she growled, eyes sliding closed and tail thumping loudly against the stone ground as she leaned further into his touch.

"Kono tame ni shiharau," she hissed with a whine, ears pressing against her skull. "... Ikō no."

------
Imaimashii neko = damn cat
Kono tame ni shiharau = you will pay for this
Ikō no = later

Nodding absently, Ndale couldn't but grin. He, however, was fine with his age. Most of the places he went to didn't care he was young. He wasn't even registered or tracked by any government. He had no papers, no birth certificate, no social security. There was nothing to track him or his age. He was well known enough now to be let in to clubs based on his looks and his name. Od, of course, was also a big part of this. The pair of them often brought in enough money with them, owners of places stopped caring.

As Raye leaned towards him, he pulled back gently, guiding her to lean in to his chest as he leaned back against the wall again. His second arm came to rest around her waist. The hand at her neck moved up in to her hair, fingers rubbing circles and he neared the spot just behind her left ear.

"You know...I don't understand whatever language you just used." The feline lowered his voice in to a smooth purr. "I am just going to assume that that was meant as encouragement....and I shall be more than happy to oblige."

She followed his gentle manipulations and leant against his chest, nuzzling into the crook of his neck with a purr. Her ear flicked in anticipation as his fingers neared it.

"It was Japanese. I lapse into it sometimes. Usually when I'm tired or over-emotional," she muttered quietly, eyes still closed. She pressed her cold hands against the Cheetah's chest and nearly moaned at the heat he gave off. "I'm gonna have to borrow you whenever my hands get cold. You're so warm."

A soft snort that couldn't really have passed for a snort whistled through her nose. "Most of it was the furthest thing from encouragement I could have voiced without resorting to being physical." She wouldn't let on that she was planning on enjoying his ministrations for a little longer.

The cheetah's air was entirely smug, and he enjoyed the power over her at the moment. Goose bumps rose on his skin at her cold hands and he chuckled airily.

"Is that my role now? Personal heater?" Ndale hummed lightly. "I should prolly be more upset over that than I am." He wrapped his arm around her tighter, pulling her in to share his warmth. For the most part, being a cheetah made him average 39.5 degrees C (102 degrees F) so he was actually a decent candidate for the position. His voice became a little contemplative, though it was still too amused to be serious. "Tell you what. I'll willing lend you my warmth if I can pet you when you do so. I find myself rather liking this position here." His grin widened.

"Oh, is that so? Shall I stop then?" Ndale's fingers finally worked their way over to the space behind her ear, massaging over the bone there and dipping down on to the neck before coming back up, and he purred temptingly low in his chest. His tail turned leisurely in victorious confidence beside him.

"Yes, Dear King, you are now the personal heater," Raye affirmed, quite happily cuddling closer as he tightened his grip on her. Even the heat of her jacket could never help with the freezing skin of her extremities. Her toes curled inside her converse at the thought of cold extremities. Her toes were always much colder than her fingers.

Her ears pinned back as he voiced a compromise to her. She considered refusing the offer and just letting herself go cold. But... She pressed closer to the Cheetah. "Fine," she mumbled. She could put up with being pet if it meant she could steal his heat. "I like your warmth enough to tolerate petting."

"Stop and I'll have to make do on my promise to make you pay," she promised, tail thumping harder than before. Her dignity had all but thrown itself out the window at this point. She was enjoying this too much.

Shaking his head in amusement, Ndale laughed outright as she agreed.

"Alright alright. Are you going to be cuddling close to me all the time now?" He asked in a playful tone as if such a thing would be annoying. He didn't really mind though. "And there's nothing wrong with being pet. Especially from someone who knows the right way to do it. After all, I've been pet before." He grinned, leaning his cheek against Raye's head.

"Pay?" His hand paused a moment before he scoffed and continued running his fingers over Raye's neck and through her hair. "And what does that mean, exactly? Surely you're not threatening me..."

"Probably," she answered. She hadn't really been close enough to anyone since Chaye died to enjoy body warmth like she was doing now.

With quick practised movements, she began to unlace her converse. It was obvious she done this numerous times. Her hands didn't waver as she pulled off the shoe and moved to the other, making quick work of it. Once both shoes were taken care of, she removed her socks and manoeuvred herself so she could press her freezing toes to Ndale's ankle.

"I'm a demon. Us demons have a lot of pride. We feel like we're throwing that pride away when we lower ourselves to be treated like domestic pets."

"I don't make threats - I make promises." But, she thought as Ndale continued running his fingers over her neck, I might not go through with this one. Ō chītā yō-juu is quite good at this. A quiet purr rumbled in her throat.

Raising an eyebrow at the girl untying her shoes, Ndale didn't pay much mind to the action until cold toes where pressed against his ankles. He almost jumped and pulled his leg away, but caught himself.

"Jeez, you are really freezing." He blinked and stopped petting for a moment as he reached down to hook a hand under Raye's knees to bring her legs up, trying to maneuver her to be sitting actually in his lap. His tail flipped, coming to rest over her feet, hopefully the fur helping some. "Why are you so cold?" He chuckled.

"Besides, I'm not treating you like a common pet. I'm simply expressing my fondness for you in a way I am familiar with, and find that we share. We're both animals here. There's no pride lost to that. And...it's only us here..." He spoke smoothly, really not fond of the girl trying to get back at him later. His hand returned to her neck, trailing down to run along her spine. "What would you be promising, then?"