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Half a day later.
Nithya pauses to lean against a tree. She looks positively exhausted and in pain. "Sorry, Clay. I just gotta..."
She swallows and glances at her boots with some trepidation. They both sort of know what might be in there.
Clay slows and turns back toward Nithya, frowning. He's spent the past hour itching the back of his neck, and has noticed Nithya's slowing pace as her boots have seemed to hobble her, a mix of concern and fear remain in Clay's voice, "Are... you sure? Even just a little further...?" He already knows the answer, but feels like it's giving up somehow.
Nithya shakes her head: "C-can't. Ankles... hurt so much... even if it's..." She trails off, then just sits down on the moss and starts taking her boot off. A wave of relief washes over her as she gets the boot off, quickly repeated by a second one.
Her feet are now effectively hooves. Light reddish-brown fur has grown from ankle down, and the arch of her foot is now quite a bit longer, with her heel naturally higher. Most of all, her toes have almost completely fused into a thick black cloven hoof, with just hints left of there even having ever been more than two 'toes'.
She stares at the hooves for a long, long time in quiet.
Clay stares down as well, unable to draw his eyes away. Nervously, he pull off one of his gloves. The fur has grown thicker on his hand, the nails darker, but show no sign of 'merging' the way Nithya's feet have.
"Either... my hands are taking longer... or at least they'll remain Hands..." He looks at Nithya with a bit of desperation in his eyes. "I can feel it along my back, it's so hot wearing all of this. But I can't take it off... I won't."
Nithya looks up after what feels like several eternity-long moments. Her eyes are full of fear. "Clay... what are we going to do? If we just... become... animals..." She shudders, then shakes her head.
"You have to take your coat off eventually. Growing... fur is one thing, but if you pass out on me because of heat exhaustion..."
An expression of terror crosses Clay's face, "N-no, don't even think like that Nithya. We're going to beat this... whatever it is. This curse. W-we're not animals..."
He looks down at his hand, and clenches it tight. His yes dart up to Nithya, then back down to his hand. He reaches over to remove his other glove, then takes off his jacket, and lastly the shirt beneath that, revealing his naked chest and back.
The fur has covered his arms, a pale brown that grows to a more reddish brown as it goes up to his shoulders. It covers them as well, and down his back, and even creeping up his neck like a collar. The subtlest hint of a change in his body is evident as well, a loss of definition to his build, or is that just a trick of the eye...?
Nithya looks at Clay in surprise, for the moment her own feet... or what were her feet... forgotten. "Um... wow."
She swallows a bit: "You look different. Have you been working out, or is it a new hair dye...?" The joke dies even as she attempts to say it, stunned confusion taking over once more.
Clay tries to smirk, a little half-heartedly, "Y-yeah uh, got it at the same place you got your pedicure..." He swallows, running his hand along his neck to feel the fur. "Is... is it that bad?"
Nithya looks Clay over: "Just... fur, I think. Spread out." She glances at her ankles, then at Clay's neck, squinting: "...it's a bit different color. Huh. Like... a bit darker, browner of sorts." Focusing on documenting the changes out helps from freaking out about it. At least some.
Clay considers, his own logical mind trying to make sense of that too, "Because it all started somewhere different? Or because I'm a different kind of-" He stops himself short, then glances away, and starts to put his shirt back on.
Nithya pauses, then shakes her head. "We can figure that part out later. Whether we want it or not, I suspect it's going to be easier later on..."
She sighs and looks at her hooves. Tentatively, she gets back up... and once again, with almost eerily good sense of balance, she's standing upright with pretty much no issue. "...even if this is weird as fuck, if you pardon my technical language."
Clay grimaces at how awfully uncomfortable even the shirt feels after taking it off. He stares down at the jacket almost as if something is stopping him from putting it back on. "I feel like maybe your language wasn't technical enough for... this. All of this. I'm starting to suspect I won't have long until it tries to force me out of my boots too..."
Nithya shifts on her new hooves, feeling them. "I hate to admit it, but... okay, I really hate to admit it, you got to understand that, but..." She trails off, frowning: "...I feel like I can walk a lot better and certain now. Like... well." She gestures with her hand vaguely, as though naming the animal will accelerate the changes.
Clay nods, listening to Nithya talk, but not wanting to believe it. "I know, I know... even the feeling of the exposed fur... it... but..."
Nithya sighs. "We will cure this. Beat this. But to really... do anything, do any kind of research, we have to be able to keep going." She considers her next words: "If we... if we have to live with what we are getting until then, to survive... then we just have to, don't we?"
Clay manages to smile in turn, "Hey... it's me. I'm not giving up... I'm just... I don't know..." He glances away, hating to admit it but, "I'm scared. Scared like I've never been in my life."
Nithya nods: "Me too, Clay. Me too." She reaches her hand to her companion: "Together, though. We're gonna beat that cervine thing, together."
Clay hesitates, only because of his own inhuman hand, but reaches out to take Nithya's hand and squeeze it firmly. "You're damn right."
Nithya takes Clay's hand in a firm grip, and despite her uncertainty of other things, there's no doubt in her mind about being able to beat this with her best friend.
"Think we can make some more distance today? I'll hang my boots from my backpack... guess see how well I can walk with my new..." She swallows: "...h-hooves."
Clay nods, their handshake feeling no different even in his changed hand. He frowns again at the use of that word, but resolves himself. "Y-yeah. At least we can get a little further a little faster if you're not having to struggle in the boots. Lets... lets use what we've got to our advantage."
Nithya nods, letting go as she turns to examine her boots but finding no fault in them. "There is a part of me that wants to find out, you know. I feel like I'm absolutely going insane, and yet I also want to know how I can walk now and what it feels like."
She ties up the boots to her backpack and hefts it back up.
"I suppose those two are not mutually exclusive, though."
Clay frowns, "I... I just don't want either of us to get lost to it..." He takes a moment and puts his gloves away into his backpack, and again ties the jacket around his waist, only wearing his simple shirt now, exposing his furred forearms, and much more of his neck.
Nithya gives a small smile: "We just have to keep each other on course. Like we always do."
She takes a sip of her water, and after a glance at her compass, takes a step, then another. And much like she felt it would be, she feels very steady with nothing between the bottom of her feet and the ground.
"This feels kind of incredible, Clay. Like, I can feel every nuance of the ground under me, finding the grippiest place to set my foot... hoof... on." She then glances at her friend and clears her throat. "Right. No losing it, I promise."
Clay sighs, watching her walk. "I'll keep you sane if you keep me sane." He lets out a breath and laughs, "Guess that's no different than before, hm?"
Nithya smiles. "Yep. Let's make some distance."
Clay finishes adjusting his shirt and tied off jacket, hefts his backpack back up and nods grimmly. "Let's go. This way, I think." He points, and starts to head back along the trail.
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