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A Bit Later.

Nithya blinks as she regains consciousness. She's sitting in the middle of the ancient auditorium, her hands in her lap.

She looks around, and then she remembers. A feeling so strong it nearly knocked her over when they entered. A presence so powerful she could not utter a word. A will so fierce it didn't allow her to doubt at all. And a voice so eternal, so calm, so majestic it defies description.

And now she knows exactly what is wanted of her and Clay.

She looks at her friend. He probably felt all the same things.

Clay is still shaken, but indeed felt the same presence... Seeing their initial entry into the temple through new eyes, his regrets for his actions multiplied, but in humility and regret, was granted some measures of mercy.

He lets out a breath he's been holding for what feels like forever. Waiting another eternity before he dares raise his voice, "...Nithya... Are... We okay?"

Nithya nods slowly. "I... Think so. And, uh... I guess now we know." She looks a bit shaken, but at the same time there is a conviction in her eyes.

Clay nods. "We do... I- I'm not sure if that makes it better. It... It does in some ways, I suppose. I feel such a fool for this happening in the first place." He tried to bear the brunt of the guilt, even if that was untrue and unfair to himself, and it had not been allowed. They were, after all, in this together.

Nithya hums. "You know I don't blame you any more than I blame myself, and..." She glances at the statue sharing the room with them. "... Neither does she, it seems."

She takes a deep breath. "So..."

Clay manages a smile, "Yeah... I guess I do know that. But still, thanks for saying it." He takes a deep breath, in mirror to hers, "Yeah... I... Guess we know what to do, for a human form."

Nithya nods, looking at herself. "I'm quite literally up to my neck in this. I don't fancy our chances if we decline her offer, so, yeah." She shifts her position, then finds what she looking for. She points at a stone tablet at the root of the statue's pedestal.

"Don't ask me how I know, but I'm pretty sure our instructions for the ritual she wants are there, and I can read them."

Clay nods, "No... I had no intention of turning her down either, unless... Well, I wouldn't... I couldn't do this without you. If you wanted to refuse, I'd have followed, no matter the cost." His voice sounds so confident and strong in that statement, like his old self, even though the voice is different.

Nithya nods slowly. "Well... Maybe better we don't find out what happens if we just turn tail." She chuckles weakly at her own joke, before getting carefully up, still feeling a bit dizzy.

Clay still manages to laugh at the pun, despite everything, and slowly stands to join her, this time extending his hand to help keep her steady "I... I think it'll be okay."

Nithya smiles as she takes the offered hand. "So, no doubts then. Guess it's pretty hard to deny that our reality isn't what we thought it was, and just accept and work with it, instead."

Clay squeezes her hand, his face full of doubt and fear and anguish, but he nods. "I am still terrified. But w-we can work with this. No doubts."

Nithya nods, resolute. "Then... While I still have the feeling and the will, let's see what we have to do." She lets go of Clay's hand after squeezing back, turning to read the tablet. Which she now can as though it was a snack menu in their hometown.

Clay smiles as he lets go of her hand, "Just let me know what I have to do. You can count on me."

Nithya One set of preparations - mostly involving mundane natural items from near the temple - later, they are sitting down again, with a small fire between them.

"And now... We close our eyes, take deep breaths, and let her finish the change on us."

Clay sits across from Nithya and obeys her instructions, closing his eyes and breathing in and out in a timed rhythm, recalling back to a medita course he once took.

"Invite her in... To finish what was started. Y-yes..." Doubt and fear fill Clay's voice, but he keeps his position, and let the changes begin to wash over him.

Nithya gives Clay a smile, before closing her eyes and trying to feel calm. Far as she understood, the key is in allowing it to happen, to letting her change your body.

Soon she feels her neck tingling, and it goes upwards to her ears, cheeks, eyes and nose. Her face stretches forward much faster than Clay's had over the course of day and a half, and it is just by force of will she keeps her eyes shut. 'Best to just let it happen, now. Now is not the time to document for later.', she tells herself.

She also feels her hands going through changes, but they feel rather distant and minor in comparison.

After what feels like forever, she takes a deep breath as her ears flick. The changes are over, and after she is pretty sure her body's done morphing into unfamiliarness, she dares open her eyes.

Clay breathes in and out, until some part of him perceives a small flame in his mind, a flickering thing deep inside him. He tries to open himself up, to let this happen, to let it in, but he resists.

'I don't want this.'

'You do. You have. You will '

'I...' His resistance chips away as he argues with himself, the struggle having an equal effect on his body as the final changes take place.

The hooves first, those were easy enough to accept. He'd already seen Nithya walking on them, prancing, the legs bending and shifting rapidly into cervine legs. There was no pain in this. But there were more changes beyond simple the deer form.

'It's... Wrong. I'm not...'

'A deer? A doe? ...A woman?'

He pulled back, and then the pain began. A burning, like hot irons running through his body.

'Stop...'

'You've already embraced it... You can't stop now.'

'I have to stop!'

'You're the one letting it happen.'

'It wasn't my choice!'

'It is now. You are choosing.'

'N-not this... I'm not supposed to want this!'

'But you do.'

'...I...'

'Just let it happen.'

The pain subsides, and the changes accelerate once again. His figure shifts, hair lengthening and turning a rusty copper red a few shades brighter than his fur, and breasts and teats expanding. White spots speckle across the brown fur, and in the end there can be absolutely no doubt that this is a female body.

Clay has been silently struggling through it all, jaw clenched and covered in sweat. But at last, it's over.

Nithya stares at Clay for a long moment. The deer part is one thing, but damn he was given a pretty good looking package by physique standards. Not that he looked bad before, but...

She quietly files that train of thought away and buries it deep. Very deep.

She takes a deep breath and finally dares to speak quietly, almost a whisper thought plenty audible to their new ears in the quiet of the temple.

"One heck of a ride, huh."

Clay swallows and opens her eyes... His eye... Damnit. His voice is different, but still somehow obviously Clay's voice, "Y-yeah..." He looks over Nithya for the first time and chuckles, "Is that... Is that what I look like too? Guess it's not so bad."

Nithya blinks and looks down at herself, wearing only panties and sports bra as she is. The latter of which is feeling slightly tight, actually. Huh.

"Yeah, er... I think we're both actually in better physical shape now." She instinctively licks at her nose as she pauses. "... Ignoring our, er, physical shape, anyway."

Clay forces a laugh, clearly still struggling with something. "It's... Going to take some getting used to... At least... At least there's no more changes coming. ...right?"

Nithya nods, musing... Momentarily distracted by the new shape of her head. She then blinks. "Er, yes. This should be it. We are in the image of her, and..." She looks at Clay but doesn't comment any of the obvious.

Clay 's ears droop at the emphasis on her. He becomes very aware of how exposed he is, having only been wearing some now-very-loose fitting boxers. He brings his hands up to cover his breasts. "Y-yeah, I caught that part... Definitely explains a lot."

Nithya nods, hesitating, as she looks at Clay's new,er, assets. Eventually her practical side wins the inner argument.

"I think you got made a bit bigger than I am, but my shirts should still fit." She looks about the deserted temple. "We're done down here, anyway, I'm pretty sure."

Clay blushes at the comment about her bust, but distracts herself by looking around the ruined temple, realizing just how empty it now feels. "...huh. I... I guess we are."

Nithya nods slowly as she thinks. "I... I am almost certain I can figure out that changing back to human part from the tablets. I can read it now." She's not going to question anymore how, at this point.

"... And I guess we have time to get used to-" She gestures vaguely at them both: "-all this."

Clay nods as she looks down at her self. She... he... Pushes himself up. Off the ground to stand on new legs for the first time. A little wobbly at first, he quickly finds the proper balance. "It didn't take you long to get used to the hooves, so... The rest... The rest I don't know if I will ever get used to."

Nithya nods and gets up with just momentarily dizzy feeling as her sense of balance readjusts.

"It won't be for forever. But..." She considers as she starts walking towards the tablets at the altar. "... But considering how we ended up in this situation, last thing I want to do is rush it. We are not changing further, I'm almost dead certain of that, so we can take our time of doing the reversal of it right."

Clay smiles, and follows after Nithya, "Yeah, smart. I... I can deal with this. For a while more, of course. Rushing it would just make things worse somehow, no matter how I feel."

Nithya pauses for half a step, before glancing back at her friend... Her fellow doe. "How... How are you feeling, right now?"

Clay stops and looks down at the stone floor, rubbing her shoulder. "I... I'm... I'm not okay, Nithya. I'm... So confused and hurt... And I don't even know what to think right now. I keep trying to tell myself it'll be okay, but I can't believe it. I can't trust myself."

Nithya nods with a bit of a sigh. "I feel you. I'm trying to ignore that sensory overload you mentioned until I can sit down on my sleeping bag, at least." She glances at Clay and lowers her voice to even softer tone. "If you want any help, I'm right here though. I'm pretty sure my plumbing down there didn't go for a complete makeover so I still have some hunch left."

Clay 's face goes bright red and a look of horror crosses his face, "N-no I don't even want to think about that right now. Just... Just don't." He sighs deep, "I guess I'll head back to camp."

Nithya blinks at Clay, uncertain what she said wrong... Then as her friend turns around, it hits her like a runaway freight train.

The newly created spotted doe sighs as she lifts her hand to her face: "... Certainly not made in the image of the goddess of bedside manner, am I."

She then slowly follows Clay up.

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