To Take Flight
To Take Flight By: Theo Winters
I came up behind Felicia, wrapping my arms around her and resting my chin on her shoulder. "What are you doing?" I asked.
She flicked her tail up against my leg, cocking her head to look back at me with one green and gold eye. "Reading," she replied.
"Want to do something fun?" I asked, hugging her to me.
The cheetah closed her book and set it down on the table. "What sort of fun did you have in mind?"
I chuckled at this and nuzzled gently at her round ear. "Something fun, but not too crazy."
"That could be fun," she replied, turning around in my arms until we were face to face. She moved her nose up against mine, a smile on her face. So far it had been a long lazy weekend, and it wasn't even Sunday afternoon. We really needed to do something to spice up the day, and I had the perfect idea of what that would be.
Grabbing her hand I held it firmly in mine. "Come on," I said and started pulling her towards the bedroom.
She laughed and came along with me. "This doesn't seem like 'not too crazy'," she protested.
"You'll see," I said as we entered the bedroom. Letting go of her hand I bent down and pulled out a large aluminum sided case from under the bed. Lifting it up I placed in on the mattress and starting to roll my fingers over the spinners on the lock.
Felicia placed her hand on my back. "What exactly is in that thing?" she asked, whispering the words in my ear.
I smiled and flicked my tail up against her legs. "Something fun, as I said," I told her as I worked the lock into place.
"Okay, so you have enough toys that you need to keep them locked under your bed. Silly lion."
Looking back over my shoulder at my girlfriend I gave her a smile. "It's not that sort of fun. Trust me, I think you'll like this," I said as the latches popped open and I lifted the lid of the case.
She leaned forward to look into the case, then reached in and pulled out of the many plastic boxes that fitted it. She looked at the box closely, her eyes narrowing at the hand write label on the plastic. "Tanuki? It looks like a leaf."
"It is a leaf, but if you put it on your head you'll turn into a tanuki."
She shook her head and placed it back into the case. "You told me that you were crazy when we got together, and you keep surprising me in how much you mean it."
I smirked a bit and started to shuffle the plastic boxes around in the case. "You've seen the tricks I can pull off with my tail, and you know I love transformations. I just can't do any magic myself so I have to collect toys to do the job for me."
"I see" she said, her ears flicking back slightly as she reached down into the case and pulled out one of the smaller boxes. "Oh, a copy of your bracelet!"
Pausing my search for a moment, I looked down and smiled at the same gold, silver and bronze bracelet that hung from my right wrist. "It is, I like to keep an extra around, sometimes it's fun to share."
She cocked her head to the side for a moment, then slowly placed it back in the case. "I do like some of the things you do with it. Maybe I'll try it sometime."
"That could be fun, but for another time," I replied as I fished out a large box from the bottom of the case. Inside was an orange and black jewel held on a thick leather cord. I held the box carefully in my hand as I closed the case, keeping her from seeing the label.
Her tail flicked as she leaned forward. "And what's in the box?"
"Our fun, but first we need to change," I said as I relocked the case.
"Change?" she asked.
"Yep. We'll both need something with an open back, and you'll probably want a sports bra as well."
My girlfriend nodded a bit as she pulled on the red hoodie that she wore, one of her favorite tops. "Why hon? What are you planning to do?"
"You'll see," I said with a wink as I pulled my shirt off over my head and threw it onto the bed, walking over to the closet I opened my side and dug through my shirts. In the back I had an older one I had modified before, two long open slits running down each side of the back.
I was about to pull it on when Felicia snapped the strap of my own sports bra. I gave her a look. "Yes?"
"You have one of those for me?" She asked, pulling her hoodie off. She was braless under it and her breasts stood out nicely from her chest.
Without a word I handed her the shirt then pulled out an extra one I had. It was in pretty ratty shape and the holes were to large, but it would do the job.
I pulled my shirt on, tugging it a bit as It hung loose over my shoulders. Felicia did the same, but the shirt was so large on her that it hung over her tail.
"This is going to be interesting," she said.
"You'll love it, trust me," I said, tucking the plastic box under my arm and walked out of the bedroom. Together we walked through the house, then out the backdoor and down the stairs to the backyard. The grass was cold on my bare feet and a little bit damp.
"Turn around," I told her.
She gave me a smile, her ears perking up high as she slowly turned her back to me, her tail swaying over the grass, brushing softly against at the tip of the blades, the silver and gold rings she wore catching the light. The long holes in the shirt had settled in place, running from her shoulders to the top of her ass. It exposed the spotted fur of her shoulder blades for me to see.
I pulled the stone out of the box and lifted it above her, holding the leather strap open. Slowly I lowered it down over her head, letting the stone come to rest on her chest as the leather strap pressed to her neck. I slipped a hand behind her hair, pulling it out from under the strap and letting it fall free.
"Ready?"
My girlfriend turned around to look at me, a bemused look on her face. "Yes, but I have no idea what I'm ready for."
"Just squeeze the stone to activate the magic," I told her.
She reached up for the stone, then stopped to look at me. "There's only one stone. If there is only one stone why do you have the same sort of shirt as I do?"
A smile played over my wide muzzle. "I don't need the stone. I kind of absorbed the magic from the one I used, it's part of me now so I don't have to use an artifact for this one."
"Oh! Is that why you can do the tricks with your tail?"
My smile grew a bit larger. "No, that's just a natural part of myself."
Felicia returned my side and placed her hands and her hips, her tail flicking behind her in amusement. "Fine then Theo, why don't you show me first?"
"Of course, hon," I said as I took a few steps back, crossing my arms and gripping my upper arms as I braced myself. Taking in a deep breath I reached deep into my mind and pressed the magic in just the right way. A warm chill ran over my body, across my back and over my back. Pressure started to build in my shoulder blades, swelling out under the skin and puckering at my fur. With a pleasant feeling the pressure bust outwards as a large pair of feathered wings grew out from my back, arching out behind me to their full fifteen foot wingspan.
She let out a gasp as she watched my wings swayed in the air. Her look of surprise turned into a wide smile. "How did you get wings?"
I fanned them out behind me. I could feel their movement pulling over my back and chest, the new and larger muscles twitching with each motion of my extra limbs. With a shake of my tail I felt feathers grow out of the tail tuft. The wings had the same coloring that had, tan at the top near the shoulders then growing darker until the feathers at the edge of my wings where the same black as my mane. My tail feathers were the same shade of black.
"It was an accident, I was experimenting with mixing some magic and I did something wrong. I think it's not that bad of a downside all things considered," I replied as I folded them against my back, the very top of them rising above my shoulders, framing head and mane.
My girlfriend nodded, her bright green eyes flicking over the edge of my wings as her own tail was flicking in excitement. Cocking her head to the side she reached up to touch the necklace, but stopped when her paw was a few inches way. "So it's safe?"
"It's safe," I said, walking over to her and taking one of her paws in mine, my tail flicking slightly behind me. "I don't have that artifact anymore, it was too dangerous, but I was able to get the bunny headband in return."
"Bunny... headband?" she asked with a soft giggle.
"I'll show you later. So, do you want to go flying with me?"
She leaned in and kissed me gently on the pad of my wide nose. "I would love to!"
With nod I took a few steps back from her. "Then just squeeze the jewel and try to relax."
Felicia nodded and reached up to take the jewel in her hand. She wrapped her fingers around it and squeezed it firmly, orange light starting to glow between her fingers. A moment later she let out a surprised gasp as the magic rushed through her, making her fur stand on end. Her chest swelled slightly with new muscles as a pair of large wings erupted out of her back and stretched into the air.
They were not the wings that I was expecting, but they were beautiful none the less. They were large and dragon like, with a thin tan membrane spanning between each of the thick fingers of the wings. There were spots over the wings and lining the thick fingers. They were wider than mine and looked very soft.
Letting go of the stone she looked back over her shoulders and along her new wings. Slowly flexing them out then folding them up against her back. Reaching out she stroked a hand over one of the wings, her fingers trailing over the soft membrane. Her tail was flicking in excitement, a spade having formed at the tip of it.
It looked like my girlfriend had a little bit of dragon in her.
"How do they feel," I asked, walking up to her.
"I'm not sure," she replied, flexing them out again then pulling the back up. "They feel oddly natural, though I was expecting them to be like yours."
"Everyone is different, this is just the sort of fits you," I said, moving up and hugging her to me, slipping my hands around her back and under my wings then kissed her. She kissed me back for a few moments, both of us purring softly as we pulled apart.
"So, ready to go flying?" I asked her.
She froze for a moment, only her ears twisting to the side. "Can I? I mean, can I, really? I know you're a pilot, but I don't know anything about flying other then how to sit in a plane."
"A good transformation spell will make sure you know now how to use your new body, so yes, you will know how to fly. It will come naturally when you try to fly."
"That's not really reassuring, Theo," she replied.
I laughed and fanned out my wings, enjoying how the feathers caught as the slight breeze in the air. "Trust me, it's not that hard. We'll start small and just go up to the roof," I said.
She cocked her head to the side and the turned her head to look back at the roof of the house, the spade of her tail flicking against the ground. "Okay...."
With a small smile I took a few steps back and hunched down, starting to flap my wings through the air. I started slowly at first but quickly added speed, stretching them out as far as they could go. I could feel them push through the air, pressing it down to make the grass swirl around my feat, at the same time there was the feeling of the extra magic that allowed my wings to take my full weight.
As soon as I felt the air pushing back up against my wings I snapped my tail out and leapt into the air, slamming my wings down with all my strength as I rose quickly into the sky. I arched over my girlfriend's head and up over the deck to settle down onto the edge of the roof. I flapped my wings a few more times to make sure that I had a soft landing, I was also glad it was early enough in the day that the shingles were only slightly warm under my bare feet.
Settling in place, I turned around to look down to where Felicia was standing. She was looking up at me, her mouth hanging open and her tail flicking from side to side. I leaned forward, fanning my wings back to help me keep my balance. "Your turn!" I called down to her.
"I... I'm not sure I can do it," she called back, her voice catching slightly.
I crouched down, resting one hand on the roof. "Of course you can, hon, trust me. Just close your eyes and do what feels right, your body will know what to do."
Her eyes bugged out at this and she pulled her wings around herself like a robe. She let out a slight yelp as they pressed up against the back of her head and snapped them back open, her tail twitching quickly behind her back.
I smiled at this, she was incredibly graceful when she was dancing, but off the dance floor she had her moments of klutziness. "Just relax, take a few steps back and spread your wings out, let them feel the air. Then slowly start to flap them."
Felicia nodded and spread her wings out as wide as they could go, I could see the veins in the membranes as the sunlight shined against them, giving them a soft glow. Slowly she began to flap them, the membranes rippling as they cupped around the air as she brought them down until they nearly touched the grass. A second flap sent of wave of air blasting over the grass. Her tail was starting to snap out with each flap she took, like it was eager to fly.
"Just leap when you're ready."
The winged cheetah took in a deep breath and started to flap harder, crouching down low against the grass. Her eyes were tightly closed as she continued to flap her large bat like wings, her muscles rippling with each stroke. Then letting out a cry she leapt from the ground, her wings flapping down hard and lifting her high into the air.
As I watched her climb I realized she had put too much power into her liftoff. She flew quickly up over the deck and nearly over my head. I moved quickly, standing up and grabbing her arm and pulled her towards the roof. "You need to do a couple of flaps to slow down!"
She did as she was told, but put too much force into it and nearly sent herself flying back off the roof. I held her arm tightly, pulling her down to the roof with me. She still landed a bit hard, falling heavily against me, her eyes still tightly closed.
"There you are," I said, reaching up to push some of her hair from her face.
Slowly Felicia opened her eyes, looking at me intently for a few moments with her bright green eyes, the gold flecks shining in the sun. After a moment she flicked them down at the roof under us both. "I did it..." she said softly, then started to giggle and bounce on her toes. "Oh wow, I really did it!"
I nodded and hugged her tightly to me, wrapping my wings against hers as I did so. "And it was just a simple leap, only twenty feet or so. Imagine what it will be like when we get up in the air."
"In the air," she said, the stunned look returning to her face, but this time edged with just a touch of excitement as her ears perked up while her wings flicked out slightly.
"Yep, as long as we stay under 500 feet and away from the airport we'll be just fine. We'll fly to the south just to be safe."
The lovely cheetah closed her eyes and smiled a bit. "Okay, to the south, we can fly to the south," she said, a smile starting to cross her face. Her wings slowly started to fan apart, pulling at her shirt as they rose above her. "Yes, let's fly to the south," she said, her eyes opening wide in excitement.
I leaned in and gave her a firm kiss, my arm slipping around her back to stroke over the base of her wings. This brought a gasp from her and a shiver as her wings starting to shake.
Chuckling I took a few steps back, fanning my feathered wings out and snapped my tail. "Just take it easy at first, once we get some air under us it will be easier going."
"I'll just follow you," she replied, her tail flicking in excitement.
I nodded and then took in a deep breath as I started to work my wings, increasing the force with each flap. I could easily produce enough lift to become airborne with a single heavy flap, but it felt more natural to work up to it, and it gave me time to think through what I was about to do. I mentaly went over my body to make sure that everything was working, the muscles pulling in the right way along with the hint of magic that added just enough extra lift to each and every sweep of my wings.
Once I was happy with how everything felt, I hunkered down then leapt into the air, starting to fly. I quickly gained altitude as I circled over the house. There was still a slight breeze, but it wasn't enough to be concerned about and we wouldn't be going high enough to worry about it changing.
Looking down I watched Felicia as she braced herself, making a false start, flicking her wings down while taking a staggering step forward that sent her falling to the roof. She picked herself up and flicked her long tail out in annoyance, the silver band half way along the length glittering in the light.
I spun in the air over the house, staying level about a hundred feet above her, watching her as she worked her wings a few more times. The moves were slow and carefully measured as she prepared herself to take off.
She looked up at me, a smile crossing over her muzzle as she crouched down against the roof. Bracing herself as she fanned her wings out as wide as they could go and snapped her tail out behind her back. With a twitch of her ears she leapt as high into the air, bringing her wings down as hard as she could. She launched upwards into the sky, rising with each beat of her wings until she flew past me.
I could hear her laugh ringing out as she shot past me, then she fixed her wings and slipped into a glide. She started to drift down, banking into a circle until she was flying level with me, slowly flapping to keep herself in the air. Her tail was flicking a bit too much, which made her sway from side to side in the air, but it looked nice on her.
With a bit of extra bank I tightened up my turn and moved until I was flying next to her, though next was relative. There was a good twenty give feet between us, and now and then she would swing close enough that are wings would nearly brush together.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself," I called across to her, the wind whipping my words.
She nodded, keeping her arms at her side as she flew, the air making her shirt puff out slightly around her chest while making the legs of her pants flutter around her ankles. Mine was doing the same, but not to the same extent, the general rattyness of the shirt meant it didn't hold much air.
"This is wonderful!" She called out, swaying in my direction as she looked at me. I found myself banking slightly to keep us from hitting each other.
I smiled at my girlfriend, the wind brushing her ears and whiskers back against her face. "I knew you would like it, now follow me," I said then entered a sharp bank to the left, leveling out when I was heading towards the south. Once I was sure of my direction I started to flap harder, gaining more altitude as I flew over the neighborhood. A few of the neighbors were watching, a flying feline wasn't a common sight, let alone a pair of them, but they didn't do anything other than watch. To be honest they had gotten used to my oddball transformations.
With a glance over my shoulder I saw that Felicia was following after me, though having a bit more trouble getting herself pointed in the right direction as she climbed. I slowed down slightly, relaxing the pressure on my wings as I continued rising, letting her catch up to me. I finally leveled out and what seemed like about four hundred feet above the ground. The sky continued well above us, but there were only a few high clouds to mare the otherwise perfect blue.
I slowly flicked my tail, using my tail feathers to keep myself stable as I flew along, watching as Felicia came up next to me. I let myself start to pick up speed, adding some extra force to my flapping as I closed my eyes. I relaxed into the wind, feeling it swirl around my face, blowing through my fur and across my ears. It pulled at my glasses, trying to take them off but the magic on them made sure they stayed firmly in place. It felt wonderful in almost every single way.
Reopening my eyes I looked back, surprised to see that Felicia wasn't behind me. I searched around for a moment before looking above me; she was keeping up but had gained another hundred feet. I rolled my shoulders a bit then motioned for her to come back down with me. She nodded and started to sink, though she was losing speed as well.
Below us the houses were starting to thin out as we moved out of the suburbs and into a few large fields, rolling hills were hugging the land to our left, but they weren't close enough to cause us any real problems. Now and then a farm would slip below us, or a small lake filled with people enjoying the summer day.
Somewhere along the line Felicia had gotten the hang of controlling her speed without gaining altitude and had moved up next to me. She had a huge smile on her face as we flew along and I imagined that she was purring slightly. Her eyes were squinted slightly against the wind, but the spell included an extra eyelid to keep her vision safe against the wind.
I started to pick up speed to see how well she would do. Not only was she able to keep up she zoomed past me, her tail still flicking a bit too much, but from behind it was more than worth watching.
A few moments later she realized she was ahead of me and drifted back until she was at my side, our wings starting to beat in time as we flew in formation.
"How far are we going?" she called out against the wind.
"We're about half way there," I called back to her, still picking up speed, almost going as fast as I could. She kept up easily.
"And where is that?"
I smirked a bit. "It's a surprise," I teased. A moment later the air started to grow rough as we passed over a large parking lot of an outlet store. I quickly flicked my wings and twisted my tail to compensate, sacrificing a bit of speed for stability. Felicia didn't quite have the skill for that, twisting and flying up above me before coming back down as she tried to keep herself stable, but instead started rushing towards me.
With a quick twist I banked away sharply, flapping hard to get above her as she slipped below me, the tip of her wing almost clipping the feathers in my tail. I slowed down, watching her, relieved to see that she was starting to return to level flight.
"Are you okay?" I asked as I moved down beside her.
"I'm fine, but I wouldn't mind getting on the ground soon."
I nodded and looked back to the ground. We were about fifteen miles south of the house and the fields were starting to give ways to tracks of houses as we neared a next small town. Our destination was about ten minutes away and I could just see the outline of the roof in the distance.
"We're almost there, we should be able to glide for a little bit," I told her, fixing my wings out and snapped my tail back, allowing gravity and my speed to continue to take me forward. Every twenty seconds or so I would give a long flap of my wings to add a little more lift to my glide.
Felicia followed my example, flying along side of me and we slowly sank towards the ground as we got closer to our destination. By now it was easy to make out the buildings and the signs below us.
"We'll land there," I said, pointing towards the place.
She looked where I was pointing and let out a soft laugh. "A pizza place? You gave me wings to take me to a pizza place?"
"Yep! Come on," I said and pulled my wings back to sink a little bit faster as I glided over to the parking lot. Coming down in front of the pizza shop I flared back and flapped my wings as I dropped down to the asphalt, running a few steps to burn of the excess speed. A moment later I let out a yelp and rushed off the hot ground and into the shad under the awning.
Looking up I saw that Felicia was coming down quickly, trying to replicate my landing but I could tell she wasn't quite going to make it. She had come down too early and too fast and ended up running over the ground, her wings held out so wide they were trying to lift her back into the air. I could tell that she was about to fall, her feet twisting under her.
I stepped back out onto the hot asphalt, catching her in my arms before she fell to the ground. I was pushed back by her speed, but I held myself in place, holding her close as her wings finally sank down against her back.
She blushed and smiled up to me her eyes glittering in a very odd way. "Thank you," she said.
Bending down I kissed her softly on the lips for a moment before the heat of the ground made its way back into my mind. With a laugh I pulled us both out of the parking lot and onto the sidewalk in front of the store. On the other side of the large window I could see a couple of the employees watching us. One, a vixen, was looking on with a bit of amusement while the other, a husky, was watching us with his jaw wide open.
"Shall we get something to eat?" I asked, motioning towards the shop.
My winged girlfriend stood back on her feet and brushed her paws over her shirt. "Should we turn back?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No need, just keep them closed," I replied and pulled open the door, holding it for her. She blushed a bit and stepped inside, I followed after her.
The vixen smiled at us as we came in. "You had a bit of a hard landing there."
"Sorry, it was my first landing," Felicia replied, blushing again.
I laughed and walked up to the counter. The husky was still staring at us, his ears perked up and his eyes opened wide. "He must be new," I commented.
Rachel laughed and nodded to the husky. "He started last week. The usual?"
"For me, and what do you want?" I asked the cheetah.
She looked up at the menu above us on the wall, as she read over the various options her tail and wings twitched slightly. I took a step back and ran my back of my hand over the length of her wing, resulting in her snapping it out and smacking it across my nose.
I laughed and rubbed my nose as she looked back over her shoulder at me, blushing a bit more. "Oh Theo, I'm sorry."
Waving if off, I rubbed the pad of my nose. "No, no it was my fault. You're not used to them yet. Order and I'll meet you at the table," I told her as I pulled out my wallet to pay for my usual pizza and a soda, along with enough for whatever she wanted.
Taking my soda I walked over to a table near the back and sat down, draping my wings over the the chair as I threaded my tail through the hole in the back. The lowest feathers brushed against the floor, but not in a way that was uncomfortable.
As I waited for her I pulled out my phone and started to search for goggles she could use while flying. I knew her eyes were protected, but a little coverage couldn't hurt. A few moments later she came up to the table, taking a few moments to work out how to sit down with her new appendages. She finally turned the chair to the side and sat on it, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the table while at the same time giving me a nice view down the top of her shirt, a view that couldn't have been an accident.
I gave her a smile, and then reached out to take her hand in mind. "I'm sorry, I didn't think about getting anything for your eyes."
"My eyes?" She asked, reaching up to touch the wet fur around them. "They were okay, I could see fine. It just felt like I was wearing contacts or something."
I smiled and leaned in closer. "That's normal, you have an inner eyelid like this, but some goggles will make it easier for you," I said.
She blinked slowly, her eyes slightly crossed. As she did I could see the inner lid flashing over her eyes. It was a lot like a small feline would have, but we normally didn't.
"I see... and all you use this for it is to fly here often enough that they know your order?"
I smiled. "It's a nice easy flight and it keeps me from getting rusty. That and they have really good pizza."
She leaned in even closer until her nose was pressed right up against mine. Without needing another word I leaned just a bit further forward and kissed her firmly on the lips. She kissed me back for a few second before we finally pulled away, both of us purring happily. "I like doing that with you," I said.
"I enjoy it myself," she replied, reaching across the table and placing her hand on top of mine, squeezing me gently for a few moments.
I gave her a smile and placed my other hand on hers, nearly knocking my soda over in the process. We both laughed as I quickly grabbed the cup to keep it from falling over. "That could have been more elegant," I said.
"You're better in the air."
"You didn't do too bad yourself for your first flight. You're doing a lot better than I was."
Felicia smiled at that, her ears rising up slightly. "I'm surprised I was even able to get up. It doesn't seem like it should be able to work."
"There is a bit of magic there to help you along, but there are other things as well. Our bones are a lot lighter now, even with the extra weight of the wings. The magic does give you some extra lift, but it's not as much as you may think. It's mostly you."
She nodded as she looked down at her arm, touching it gently. "How much lighter?"
"You're not going to be breaking them easily or anything. I've plowed into the ground at full speed and haven't broken anything yet. I think the magic provides a little bit of reinforcement."
Felicia pinched her arm then nodded slightly. "That's good, I would hate to break a bone like this and find I can't turn back until it's healed."
I smiled at her, my tail slipping under the table to rest against hers, my tail feathers pressing against her spade. She purred again and flicked her tail a bit closer to mine.
"Is there any place we can fly to after this?" she asked, fanning her wings out slightly as she did so.
I looked deep into her bright green eyes and smiled to her. There were so many places that I wanted to take her, but for right now I knew the perfect place to go. It would be a long flight, but it would be perfect place for us to be together, no matter how we got there.
"Yeah, I know someplace we can go," I told her, then reaching out I gently took the back of her head and brought her to me as I kissed her for what was going to be far from the last time.
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This story was written and copyright 2011 by Theo Winters, reposting and archiving are allowed as long as this copyright notice and the author's name are not removed. This story cannot be published without permission of the author. Violators will be introduced to maxim #11 (Everything is air-droppable at least once.)