Day full of Good

(( Hey, so, this thread has some plans in it, so ask first before you join ^^ ))

The mid-morning air drifted lazily in and out of large lungs. Eyelids were lightly closed as the sun warmed the black and creamily colored fur. The cheetah has lounging out on the front terrace, belly warmed by the sun heated stones while back was shined on directly. It was a great way to spend a lazy morning and in this moment, Ndale was very happily content.

He had been doing nothing for hours, and it felt good. He wasn't quite asleep, but it certainly appeared that way. As it was, the cheetah was only partially paying attention to his surroundings. Hearing the birds chirp hear and there, feeling the wind rustle the tips of his fur, all floating through his senses but not really putting that much effort in to processing. His chest swelled with a deep breath before letting it out in a pleasant sigh, shifting his head marginally where it rested upon his front paws, tail flicking once in awhile curled around next to his side.

Today was a good day.

A day full of good.

Good was good.

A pale, slender hand rose to shield fair blue eyes from the onslaught of mid morning sunlight.

Abel had awoken that morning, for the first time in weeks perhaps, as a person. A quick glance around had informed him of the herd's departure. Most likely, they had meandered to the shelter of the lean-tos on the west end of the pastures during the night. So Abel rose from his bed of grass, still slightly damp with the last beads of morning dew, deciding to take the opportunity to sneak closer to the castle.

Tentative darting around trees and flower hedges proved unnecessary as he had yet to encounter anyone on his way. And so he came to stand before the front terrace of the castle starkers, not that it mattered of course, and with a small gleam of accomplishment and curiosity in his eye. Eagerly, bare feat padded up the stone steps.

But with a thankfully silent gasp, Abel's head whipped round when his peripherals identified something foreign on the stone nearby. He froze for a moment, waiting for the inevitable, but it never came. One hesitant step was taken closer to the animal sharing the terrace, and Abel recognized it instantly as the bizzaire cheetah who had been is first, and so far only, acquaintance on this island. But seeing as how the feline's ribs rose and fell in a gentle, deep and steady rhythm, and Abel had yet to revert back to his cursed form, he concluded that the creature must be asleep.

Quickly so as not to waste this opportunity, the boy reached a hand forwards towards the door.

The feline's ear twitched just the slightest at the soft footsteps. His mind was taking it's time waking from it's half-sleepy state to one of greater perception. He figured it must have been his imagination, at first, as the noise was quick to stop. Then, it started again, hesitant. His whiskers tilted forward in interest to feel the air. There was that grating feeling of presence. They were small and quiet, unfamiliar. Where they trying to be sneaky? Past him? Pft.

Curiosity peaked, Ndale slowly shifted open his heavy eyelids in a languid manner and amber eyes slid over to casually observe who it was that was here. He blinked, though, seeing the huge Shire of the new horse arrivals he had bothered the other day. Well...not exactly his idea of...small and quiet...

Had he really be that far asleep? The cheetah blinked, lifting his head and staring at the horse rather unimpressed. So far that he had barely heard those hooves on stone as just light footsteps... Wow. He must have been really tired or something. But...what was it doing up here? He raised a questioning eyebrow at the other animal.

The " . . . " in the air hung heavily.

The front edge of a massive hoof bumped lamely against the handle to the front doors. Abel blinked down at the instantaneous change and speedily swiveled his head around to stare with some amount of surprise at the cheetah that was now blatantly staring at him. He blinked again, slowly, and heaved a long-winded sigh at his misfortune. Though it did not sadden him that the feline had awoken, per se, he had been rather looking forward to sneak-exploring around the mysterious castle.

The hoof was lowered lamely to the stone with a gentle but resounding 'clop'. Ndale's questioning expression was answered with the shire lowering his head in greeting, silently acknowledging his recognition. But he remained where he was, merely looking away over the landscape and hoping not to garner too much interest from the feline in the hopes he would simply return to his comfortable nap and allow Abel to slip inside.

His tail swished behind him patiently.

Was it him, or did the horse seem disappointed it had been caught...strange creature. Ndale blinked at it again. His ears pinned back at the dip of head and he hesitantly returned it, acknowledging his own recognition. Picking his head back up from his nod, the cheetah flicked his eyes from the horse to the door and back, then to the landscape, horse, door. Finally landing on horse, Ndale just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Weird.

Whatever.

Not important.

The feline snorted airily and turned away, resting his chin back on his paws and closing his eyes to resume his very important cat-napping.

Abel waiting so patiently, watching in his peripheral vision as the feline glanced about in confusion, almost as if it were trying to piece something together. It was a rather smart creature for an animal, he observed silently to himself.

At any rate, Ndale seemed quick to give up wondering what the strange horse was on about, since he readily returned to his napping.

Abel remained where he was for only an extremely brief moment while he held his breath, anticipating the cheetah to slide his eyes open again. When that didn't happen after a milisecond, he wasted no time springing towards the grand door in front of him and ripping it wide open in case he only had this moment to get the task done. He nearly leapt across the threshold, wary that he would be forced to revert back into a handless form before the heavy door denied him entrance again.

Happy to continue on peacefully as if the horse were not there as long as he didn't block the sunlight, Ndale was just getting ready to start to let himself drop off back into pleasant dreams of sexy boys, dancing, flashing lights and coffee when there was a noise of movement and the door opening was loud behind him. Ears swiveling, the cheetah's eyes snapped open and he shot his head up, staring at the wide open door swinging slowly closed and the significant lack of big fat horse. He sprung to his feet and leaped forward to see through into the vestibule.

He stopped short at seeing the Shire's rear end just inside. Ndale's eyes went wide looking at the door and the rather large equine now inside the castle.

How did he...? His mind raced.

Wait, what?!

What the hell just happened?!

Baffled and confused, he stood there with legs wide and shocked. The cheetah was brought out of befuddlement as the door groaned and he quickly darted in, slipping past the horse's legs to get inside before the door closed. He wanted to know what madness was going on right now and intended to find out, starting by following this strange faulty horse.

Obviously, he'd been caught entering after all, as he found himself instantaneously clamboring forwards on four hooves. He couldn't expect otherwise with the way he'd thrown stealth to the wind and torn the door open like that. But all the same, he sung his head around to witness the cheetah slipping in just behind him as the door slid into place behind them, and he shot Ndale a very smug look. Accomplished and amused.

He shook out his mane in a silent sort of laughter, before finally looking forwards to take in the sight of the vestibule. What he saw brought him to pause, and he stood still while he took it all in.

He had expected the room to be huge, as it properly was. He wasn't surprised by the dual grand staircase wrapping around the far walls and leading to either side of the balcony floor above. He was, however, rather impressed to find a miraculously large fish tank dead center of the room. He took a couple steps towards the strange decoration and tilts his head. There were all sorts of fish swimming about in there, and he found he rather liked watching them. But certainly, as soon as someone who lived in here came across him, he would be lead back out to the stables, so he did not tally long. He needed to take advantage of this and see as much as he could.

After another glance back at the curious cheetah to see if he would follow, Abel stepped to the left, hesitated, and made for the right instead. Not feeling up for the task of braving the stairs, he meandered casually through an archway that lead into the maze that were the castle's halls.

Really...this was stupid. This was really really stupid. There was a horse in the castle...should he be doing anything about that?

Ndale's ears were perked forward, standing rather unsure as to what course of action he should be taking, exactly. With wide eyes, almost comical in expression, he watched the horse peer around the room before looking back to him and then start moving forwards farther in to the castle.
...Really?... Ndale watched him go for a moment before huffing and quickly trotting after him. He saw no reason to have to be bothered with dragging this horse's rump back to the stables. That was not his responsibility. But, he could say that he was wanting to make sure he wasn't getting in to anything or going around breaking stuff...

No... if stuff were broken, he was hightailing it and pretending he was never a witness.

He padded lightly up to along side the strolling horse, being careful and wary of the hooves. He chirped to try and get the horse's attention, though it broke in to a wide yawn. Man, he had just woken up, he didn't want to be running around right now. Hopping lightly while trying to keep in pace, he pawed at the shire's broad side in a begging manner. He wanted up on to his back for a ride.

Abel was not surprised that Ndale decided to follow him. And if he was just the smallest bit put-out, it was because it would make exploring rooms beyond closed door exceedingly difficult. But he was not adverse to the company.

Both ears straightened, then swiveled to the side before his long nose followed suit. He blinked down at the cheetah which had made that curious noise again that was entirely non-big-cat-like. His footfalls became a little more hesitant while he debated on whether or not to try and ignore the persistent pawing. Something about the behavior reminded him of a child that whines and holds their arms up at you until you resolve crumbles and you consent to carting them about. He sighed heavily, having always been a sucker for that particular sort of con.

At length, he took pity on the creature who's nap he had interrupted, and ceased his lumbering so that he could bow down on his knees like some horses are trained to do, making the hop onto his back a significantly smaller feat.

While he waited to give the feline ample time to either climb on or change his mind, Abel glances around the hall; All closed doors. It looked like his best option would be to simply continue on down the hall in the same manner until he either came across another archway, or a door someone had been kind or regardless enough to leave ajar. He didn't have any goals on this little adventure; merely to peruse.


(( if Ndale climb on, you can auto them moving forwards again or whatever c: ))

As the shire went to it's knees, Ndale stopped jumping and waited patiently, his chirping having taken on a pleased tone before ceasing. As the horse settled, he quickly jumped on. He stood, legs braced and tail lashing out for balance as the horse climbed back up to four legs before settling on his stomach. He lay along the spine of the equine, front paws on either side of the withers, head held up as he watched with interest as the horse continued on. Really, he wondered why he was in here, but this was actually turning out rather interesting.

For now, until he saw something of particular interest, he'd simple observe and let the shire go where it liked.

Once the cheetah had claimed his seat, Abel rose carefully, mindful to be steady of course so that Ndale wouldn't fall. He supposed it should look odd, if anyone were to see them. But it hardly mattered.

Door after door was shut. He realized, though, that there were in fact very many doors. Eventually the hall split and he hesitated while debating on whether to continue straight or turn. He opted to turn, hooves clopping steadily again on the stone floors. He could smell food nearby--a kitchen? He wasn't very hungry, or feeling luck enough to bother rummaging about the kitchens and possibly being cast away as a troublesome animal. They had yet to encounter another, but he supposed it was attributed to the size of the place. It wouldn't be very hard to find privacy in this amount of space. He made a mental note that should he be able to sneak in again in the future, he could likely do so at night and get some decent exploring done without interruption.

The were passing a couple windows now, and Abel got a glimpse of the courtyard. It was a very beautiful sight, and he briefly envied the people who lived here before harshly reminding himself that such thoughts were likely why he had not yet been able to break his curse. Instead, he settled for appreciating what they had, and then giving thanks for the friendly weight on his back.

He glanced back at the mentioned weight to see how the cheetah was fairing. In passing, his eye caught a painting that interested him, and he paused to study it in the hall's dim lighting. His eyesight wasn't the best, especially in this lighting, but the portrait was old judging by the man's clothing. The name on a plaque below eluded him, unable to focus his eyes to that extent.

Just along for the ride, Ndale glanced around, watching doors pass. He had no idea what this horse was up to, but as it seemed to find a particular painting suddenly very interesting, he just as quickly became bored. Sighing airily in a huff, Ndale lay his head down on the horse's neck, adopting a rather flat expression. With nothing else to do, the feline let his eyes wander, trying to figure out where exactly they were in the castle. By now he had been here long enough to know the layout, so it wasn't actually really that hard. Rather, something caught his curiosity. He didn't remember that door being there.

Ndale lifted his head and stared at the door at the end of the hallway. When had that gotten there...had it always been there? He didn't rightly know. It bugged him. Driven by this curiosity, he found himself lightly hopping down from the Shire's back. Plopping on to the floor with a dull thus, the cheetah trotted over to this mystery door. What room did this lead to? It was like he just suddenly had to know. He didn't like not knowing. Approaching it, and with obviously practiced moves, he jumped up and gripped the handle in his jaws and struggled with it using his paws. Awkwardly, he twisted it neck and got the handle to turn just enough where, when he pulled, the door popped open. He released and pawed the door open farther to peer inside. His ears, though, immediately drooped, for it was nothing but a closet.

Lame.

Fascinating as old portraits were, the suddenly distracted cheetah drew Abel's attention from the wall. He watched Ndale pad away in a curious manner. Even more curious, was the fashion in which he began gnawing and pawing at some door down the hall. With a farewell glance at the painting, the shire turned and stepped lightly as he could manage in these echoing halls, and approached the feline.

To say he was surprised would be rather accurate, as well as impressed, when the door popped open obediently. He bowed his head closer, curiously, with ears perked forwards eagerly. It was... a closet. But rather then be unimpressed with the discovery, he was feeling very optimistic about what was inside. Sure, it may be merely a couple old hats and coats, a couple umbrellas and gentlemen's canes tucked in the corner--but he'd never gotten to wear clothes like these before. Not that he could now, of course, but he was entertained nonetheless.

Lifting his massive head over the cheetah, Abel stretched his jaw out and nipped an old brown fedora from a hanger near the top of the small space. Twisting his neck just so, he released the article of clothing over Ndale's head.

He stayed looking dully into the closet. Huh, maybe that's why he hadn't remembered it. As the Shire approached, Ndale merely glanced up in acknowledgement before going back to glaring at the hanging coats. He was rather surprised when a hat suddenly fell on to his head over his eyes. He jumped a bit, stepping back and arching his neck up, but flicked his head up to nudge the hat up. When he could see again, ears balancing the hat on, he looked up to the horse with narrowed accusing eyes, though a smirk played at the corner of his mouth. He snorted airily, but glanced inside the closet again.

Gaining an idea, he chuckled lightly. Digging into the closet, he bit and pulled on the sleeve of a brown, cotton long gentleman's coat. Yanking it off the hanger, Ndale dragged it over and reared back to stand on hind legs. With a toss, he flipped the jacket over the horse's back. It wasn't great...and it surely didn't fit, but it amused him anyway and he snickered.

Abel was impressed with the the cheetah's calm reaction to the surprise hat. And there was something amusing in the way it looked at him, like he might've been amused as well.

A nervousness rolled over him when Ndale gathered up the sleeve of one of the jackets in his jaws. Was he the sort of pet that would destroy clothing when he grew bored? A quick glance around the hall proved them to remain alone, but the shire intended to stop the cheetah if he could before he caused some damage to somebody's coat. He was surprised, then, when he glanced back down to do so and instead witnessed the clothing being dragged around to his side. Curiously enough, Ndale managed to fling to jacket high enough to settle it over the horse's broad back, and Abel obediently remained still while merely blinking at him with some bafflement.

Maybe.. This cheetah wasn't so special-needs after all. He actually seemed sort of clever just then. Maybe he was in fact, just trained very well, and was accustomed to performing and living pampered, or some such situation. Abel would have hummed appreciatively if he'd had a voice.

The horse swung his head to one side to tug on the corner of the jacket, making sure it was adjusted evenly so that it would not slip off, but it seemed to have landed well enough on its own. Inspired by Ndale's discovered level of understanding--or at least training--Abel chose a second coat from the closet before them and moved to lower it over the cheetah's shoulders similarly. The image reminded him of a famous detective, and he snorted in amusement. Secondly, he retrieved a dark gray homburg hat from a high shelf, but it merely fluttered to the floor. He wasn't sure how to go about putting on his own hat, but found his gaze shifting curiously to his enrobed companion.

Looking up rather proudly at the jacket hung over the white-ish fur, the cheetah chuckled airily. Why was he playing dress up with a horse? He didn't really know, but well, he really had nothing better to be doing right about now. Ndale watched the horse pull on one corner of the jacket and assumed that he was going to pull it off. When he didn't, the feline merely thought that the horse had been curious but was used to such things, saddles and whatnot. He didn't really care to know much about horse tack.

He was pondering this as he watched the horse reach into the closet again. He wasn't nearly so responsible as to wonder if he was going to rip the jacket, but more just wondered what exactly he was doing. With a raised eyebrow, he stayed still as the jacket was draped over his shoulders. Okay...well, the hat he had thought might have been accidental, but that right there was definitely on purpose. Were all animals this smart? It didn't seem that the other horses were this...aware of the same things human's were. Once the oversized coat lay on his back, he went out struggling his front legs into it. It stretched the back of it over his shoulder blades oddly, but the size left room the it was not entirely uncomfortable even if it was almost entirely silly looking. He peeled back his lips and grinned. His attention was distracted as the hat hit the floor, He glanced over, then up to the horse's face. Tilting his head, he moved over to the hat and picked it up in his mouth. Once again rearing on his hind legs in front of the horse, taking small steps to keep his balance, he stretched his front paws out as if reaching for the large Shire's head. He could put it on for him if he would only come down to his level. He couldn't jump that high off coffee.

After Abel's small debacle with his own hat, he noticed that the jacket he'd dumped on his companion was.. a little different. Had he managed to put his front legs through? When the cheetah reared up, he got a better view. He had! How curious! Why would an animal do such a thing!

Pulled from his distraction by the realization that Ndale bore the homburg hat in his jaws, Abel wished he could display the greatly amused grin that he was feeling. Maybe this was an old circus cheetah! The shire obediently lowered his head and shoved his long nose helpfully under the cheetah's airborne paws, so that he could balance himself on the long white snout if it was easier. Then he remained as still as he could.

While he was waiting for the cheetah to place the hat--assuming that's what was happening, it was hard to see--Abel's eyes took in what he could see of the hall from here. Aside from the closet door that was now wide open in front of them, there was nowhere else to go besides simply continuing down where the hall turned a corner and the rest was out of view. Of course, now that he'd witnessed this feline opening a previously closer door, he realistically began to wonder if he could somehow manage to silently coax him into opening another door. He didn't really care which one it was, but he figured all he could do was walk up to one and stare at it for a while, and hope for the best.

Ha! Yes! Success! He lightly placed his paws on the long nose offered. He knew that he was good at animal speak, but he didn't think that he could communicate that well with. Huh, he just must be that good. Well, that, and this horse was strangely odd. It must have been well taken care of where ever it was last. He had to admit, though, that he was rather enjoying the simple company of another animal. There was absolutely no drama, nothing to be worried about, they were just...doing what animals did...which was apparently to raid closets and play dress up.

He snickered and leaned up, stretching his neck to place the hat upon the top of the horse's head between his ears. He dropped it, then used the tip of his nose to push it back in to place. Satisfied, he looked down at the horse whose face he was gratefully balancing. The cheetah lowered his own forehead to the Shire's quickly to give it an affectionate, cuddly nuzzle before dropping his front feet back to the ground.

Quickly, he turned back to the closet and pawed at a basket in the back corner. Rummaging through, he found old dusty shoes - which made him sneeze - and some other odd trinkets. Finally, he found something that made him snicker. A old pipe, brown and black. He grabbed the large end, where you put in and light the tobacco, in his jaws, then offered the other end to the horse, tossing his head lightly, and directing the other end towards the large white lips. If only the horse would take it, it would be entirely too funny. He wished he had a camera.

The fond nuzzle was a little unexpected but entirely welcome. Who didn't enjoy the fuzzy feeling of a cat acting lovey? Abel might have squee'd or cooed if he'd been a more animated personality--with a voice. He did manage to huff appreciatively through his nose and bump back if only briefly.

At first, Abel assumed the cat had smelled a rodent. There had to be tons of them around here, in closets like this one. Ndale was pawing at something, then he sneezed which the shire snorted at in amusement before feeling instantly guilty for. He tilted his head lower curiously, mindful to move steadily so as not to jostle his new fancy hat, and the cheetah turned back to face him with a... pipe?

The horse's eyes flickered between the pipe and the face of his new companion. He was begin offered--at least that's what he could make of this situation never mind hoe bizarre--the small end of the pipe. As if Ndale understood which end went in your mouth. Did he? With a gentle shake of his head to banish complicating thoughts, Abel went cross-eyes trying to keep Ndale centered in his vision as his long nose reached forwards to accept the pipe. He pulled back and tried to see what it looked like sticking out the mouth of a horse, but to little avail. Well, he could imagine it was amusing at least. He lifted his head high and swiveled his ears back importantly, mimicking the best 'detective pose' a horse could manage, for Ndale's efforts.

He was soon distracted however, and with a glance down at the cheetah and a gentle tilt of his head with a 'follow me' motion, the shire approached one of the many closed doors and waited, as per his great plan, to see if his friend would oblige. Beyond the door, which Abel did not know, having chosen this one at random, was the library. It lead, more specifically, into a smaller corner of the library dedication to autobiographies.

As the horse took the pipe in it's mouth, Ndale tried really hard not to laugh, even though the cross-eyed look almost broke. Now, what did defeat him was the horse pulling up its head and pinning his ears back. He had no idea why it did so, but he was glad it did. The cheetah gave a loud guffaw that produced a rather strange half-chirp, half-breathy exhale that came out with each struggled of it's large chest, shoulders shaking and legs seeming to be unable to hold it. He held his head low, ears back, as he laughed. Oh man, it was just too funny. He tried to quiet himself, but the snickers would not be defeated. He glanced up though, just in time to see the horse nod it's head and start off down the hall. Shaking his head, Ndale followed without much thought, still occasionally letting out breathy chuckles.

The shire stopped in front of a door, and the feline stopped behind him, ears turning forward in interest in what the horse was waiting for. He glanced down the hall both ways, then at the door. This was the Library. Huh. Well, he supposed it was about time he actually got down in here anyway. There were a few things he had to look up, he was just too lazy. Well, might as well if the horse wanted in anyway. Giving a light shrug, the cheetah slipped between the strong legs of his companion and jumped up to latch on to the door handle. He angled, knob in his jaws, and used his paws to turn it until it was able to pop open at his jerking pulls back. As it glided open, he dropped back to all fours and used his nose to nudge it open further. Trotting inside, Ndale looked around. Right, completely wrong section. Lightly, Ndale bouncily padded down the isles until the room opened up, showing the sheer mass of books upon cases upon cases upon balconies upon three floors and proudly displaying the giant pillars that reached up into the sky of a ceiling of the highest tower. It was probably the largest room in the castle. There was a hellova lot of information here.

The spotted feline weaved through cases, right, he had no idea how a library really worked... well, he did. But only if you knew what you were looking for. Well, gotta start somewhere. Amber eyes scanning the cases, there was a book that seemed to have been slightly jostled. It lay on it's side, sticking out slightly from the rest. There was a distinct lack of dust, so it was probably one of the newer books that were brought in. He decided that that was were he would start and looked up at it. It was very high up though...was above his current height...though, he thought that if he shifted for but a moment, his human height, on his toes with arm outstretched, would be able to get it...

The cheetah glanced around, seemingly paranoid, and quickly sprinted down the isle, looking both directions before quickly sprinting back the other way, past the horse that had followed him, and checking the other end. He didn't see anyone...no one to witness his human form. Which was good. He had the coat, but he was distinctly missing a pair of pants. He didn't really feel like getting in trouble for streaking. Only the horse. And he really didn't think that a horse would care, or even notice, his naked state. Trotting back over to underneath the book desired, Ndale lifted his front paws, as it making to stand upon his hind legs like he had previously, but as he did so, the fur rippled and receded back, revealing slightly tanned, smooth skin. Skin, which moved as muscles slithered and rearranged underneath. There were a few pops as joints reset and his muzzle morphed to a flatter, human appearance. All in all, the massive change was very quick and rather fluid. If one had blinked, it might have been like the being there had suddenly just been replaced. A cheetah before, swapped with a human. The give away, however, was that there were unmistakable similarities. The lean boy's spiky hair was black, streaking into tan and spots near his scalp, black tears seemingly burned into skin trailed from sharp amber eyes to the corners of his lips, and a furry sleek tail peaked out from under the gentleman's coat, assumable connected to the boy's tailbone, an extension of his long spine. He reached up, standing on his toes, and was just able to pull the book from it's shelf. He clutched it victoriously and lowered as if to fall into a crouch. The book hit the floor, and just like that, the cheetah, fur-covered like nothing had happened, was staring at it with interest.

The simply red-bound book displayed curly gold-ish writing: "The Complete Sherlock Holmes". Huh. The feline looked up to the Shire and chuckled airily, observing the pipe, hat and coat ensemble.

"Well, my dear Watson, how ironic, no?" The voice was rough, sounding off from the cat's vocal cords, but it was clearly amused.

Ooh, a library! Abel swiveled his head around to view the overwhelming collection of volumes eagerly. Now that he knew where this room was, he would certainly be returning in early hours before dawn when he was fairly certain sneaking about without being seen might prove a bit easier. His gaze never stopped roaming the shelves as he absently followed along behind Ndale, thinking to himself that he might probably have to find a way of securing some glasses. The mission to read might prove difficult because of this small road block, but it wasn't like he didn't have a lot of time on his hands.

As they approached an area that seemed to interest the cheetah, the shire watched with curiosity as his companion suddenly chose to dodge to the end of the isle and back. What was he up to now? Following the feline's gaze, Abel recognized that spark of intent most cats seemed to adapt when they were debating on jumping some play thing. Because of this, he fully expected Ndale to try and climb the bookcase or something similarly cat-like and ludicrous. He didn't expect for him to simply stand up, calmly stretch his arm and his fingers to retrieve whatever book had appealed to him, and just as swiftly sink back into the form of a cat, gazing down with interest at his prize. Abel merely blinked, and there was a small echoing tunk of the wooden pipe falling from his mouth to the floor.

Ndale... had turned into a person. It had happened so infuriatingly quickly and smoothly that Abel wasn't entirely sure he had seen it happen-- But no, he certainly had!

The rough voice shocked him more than his body betrayed, which was with a small jerky bob of his head and a wide-eyed stare. Watson... In the back of his mind, Abel knew the name. He was familiar with the story of Sherlock Holmes. But.. the cat.

Obviously, Abel was intimately familiar with the life of a human cursed into the form of an animal. He was even willing to acknowledge that it was entirely unlikely he was the single human in all the world that had become such a being. But this cheetah--no, this boy--had somehow switched back.. on demand.

The barest spark of restless hope sparked in the shire's chest and he suddenly kicked off the floor, as delicately as a creature his size could, and trotted eagerly down to the end of the isle, and turned out of sight. He didn't stumble as his bare feet now padded quickly over the cold stone while he rushed to find something, anything to communicate with!

For years he accepted this burden as his task to solve as a test of his faith, but this coincidence had to be divinely intentional! He had to talk to this boy!

A deserted study table of books and papers nearly collided with the boy in his haste. He scrambled at the blank note parchment for a writing utensil until his fingers discovered a pen. He squinted desperately at the paper, trying to bring the close object into focus while his fingers were nearly trembling with excitement and anxiety.

Abel is my na-

The end of the letter 'a' stretched into an awkward scratch that was a result of the pen suddenly slipping and falling to the table while the large shire stared down with some shock. He quickly swung his head around almost hopefully to see who had triggered the change.

He didn't pay much attention to the way that pipe dropped or how the horse jerked it's head. Horses did things like that, no? He didn't expect him to keep the pipe in his mouth anyway. What he also didn't expect, was for the Shire to suddenly take off rather urgently down the hall. The cheetah picked up his head, ear turned forwards in interest and watched the beast go, wait, what?

Curious, and rather thinking that a loose horse in the castle might not be a good thing, Ndale quickly scooped up the book and padded casually after. He raised an eyebrow at the coat on the floor. It must have fallen off the horse's back. He glanced around, turning a corner to find a desk area for working students and stared at his new friend. The equine was just...standing there, having turned it's huge head to look back at him. Ndale blinked and shook his head. Weird.

He huffed and trotted up beside the larger four-legged creature. He jumped to place his front paws to lay the Sherlock book down, but paused at a note on the table. He blinked at it.

"Abel?"

Abel is my ...what? He huffed, annoyed. Someone hadn't cleaned up after themselves here, obviously. Passing notes maybe? It looked incomplete though. Whatever. He didn't put much thought in to it beyond that.

Well, at least it was who he'd wanted it to be. Abel watched the cheetah approach with wide, almost anxious eyes. Hearing his name out loud forced a jolt of excitement down his spine and his shivered, then tossed his mane back and forth. Someone knew his name! Even if they didn't know it!

Abel realized of course that he would simply need more time, if possible, or at least a second chance to add to this note. He knew this chance could be fleeting because even though he and Ndale had run into each other on two separate occasions now, there was no knowing when the next would be. He wouldn't know where to go to look for the other should they part ways before he could get a more substantial message across now. Some part of him bristled like he was betraying his task if he were to seek aid. But he felt like he could help this cheetah although he wasn't sure what with yet, and maybe he was supposed to. Maybe they had to help each other.

With a mildly frustrated snort the shire turned away from his friend once again to fetch the fallen coat just some ways away. He bit down into the collar and lifted the article, caring it high with his nose lofted up in the air. When he was over Ndale he released it and immediately made a leap for that pencil.

Abel is my na-me

He amended the original note, then hastily scratched in just beneath it;

Watson!

He barely had time to add the much-needed exclamation mark.

The feline ignored the horse for the most part. It was doing well...horse things. It was shaking it's mane and trotting around...yeah. Ndale flipped the cover of the book open with nose. He peered down at the pages, slightly interested. He had heard a bit about this, though he had never read the full original story. But, he thought, there were more than just the one story, wasn't there?

He wasn't paying attention, and so when he was suddenly cast into darkness by something falling over his eyes, he jumped. The coat hooked on the coat already on him as he instinctively backed up, dragging his head low to the ground to get the thing off. When that didn't work sufficiently, he pawed at it, shaking his shoulders to dislodge the coat. Finally, the cheetah was able to yank his head from the vile fabric's clutches, immediately scanning the area for the culprit. There was no one. No one expect for the horse, who the feline leveled an accusing glare on. Stupid horse. He huffed and growled low, trying to get across his displeasure of being treated in such a manner. He supposed it might have been his fault though, for now having a bad reaction the first time the Shire dropped a coat on him. He was teaching him it was alright. Rolling his eyes, he came forward again, still visibly put off. Returning his paws to the table, he nipped lightly at the large beast's shoulder in reprimand before looking down at the book again. A change caught his attention. The note had fresh marks on it.

Ndale's ears perked forward and he turned his head a bit as he read the amendment.

Able is my name...Watson? Okay...

The cat lifted his chin and looked around, but he had already affirmed that there was no one else in the area. He looked back at the note. Able...Watson? Wait, Watson? Amber eyes flickered to the Sherlocke book before sliding up to the large Shire. He had called the horse Watson. Abel was Watson. The horse was Abel? Ears pinned back and he stared. But it was a horse. He had been nothing but a horse this entire time. A horse had hooves. A horse couldn't write a note. Well, neither could a cheetah with paws. His eyebrow raised.

"You...are Abel." He addressed the horse. He might have felt crazier talking to an animal if he weren't an animal himself. "Can you understand what I'm saying?"