Previous: Chapter 14 Next: Chapter 16

Half a day and many, many miles of trekking later.

Nithya is walking forward at a steady pace. While she's not literally bouncing at this point, it's very obvious she's enjoying the movement, her new senses giving her all kinds of information to try and classify as she goes, and the feeling of wind against her fur.

The black-haired doe has opted to use a map and a compass a bit more than the last time the pair tried to leave, though. While her instincts and senses are great, she kind of doubts they will be much help when trying to find their way to eventually out of the Kamchatka wilds.

She briefly amuses herself with the thought of how much the reach of the 'known world' must have changed since their divine benefactor last sent someone out to be their eyes, nose and ears. Then she finds herself hoping that by the time they actually hit the city, she can't smell quite this well...

She's also kept ahead of Clay since her thoughts wandered to very dangerous territory when they started walking. For... reasons.

In short, Nithya has been feeling great and her mind has been over all kinds of thoughts about this trip and everything it has gotten them into.

She would be lying to herself is she didn't admit that she will miss being deer, however objectively nonsensical that statement might be. And she doesn't actually dare voice it.

Eventually, she glances behind her at her friend: "We're maybe around four miles from the nearest village. Should... probably take a break." 'And turn human for good.'

Clay bounds to a halt behind Nithya, smiling wide. He's gone on his own rather complicated mental journey today. Initially crying out to Nithya a few times to slow down, it eventually became almost a game to keep up with her, finally getting to stretch and really try out the new hooves and leg muscles. Far from being the uncomfortable awkward mess he'd half expected, he'd actually found it... Pleasant.

Like a dimmer switch on a light, the more he ran, the more everything seemed to come into focus, with sights and sounds and smells all enhancing despite the speed. And with Nithya insisting that she Pathfind this time, it gave Clay the opportunity to just take it all in as he followed her lead.

Clay had always been the one who wanted to go slow and savor the world as they hiked, but now it felt like she was getting the best of both worlds, savoring ten times as much while still going fast.

And as they slowed, that dimmer switch dialed back down to 'normal', or as normal as one could be in this form. She wasn't even tired, laughing behind Nithya. "I knew we'd make better time like this... But I had no idea. I'm not even tired. I could go the whole four miles tonight." A loud stomach gurgle denies this claim. "Okay, maybe not. I guess it does burn a lot of energy up."

Nithya pauses to a small clearing of rocks and mud in between the endless pines. She turns to smile at Clay: "Yeah I'm pretty much starving as well. Guess we should gather around some food a bit and only then set camp, this time. Then... See about making fire." 'And all that entails...'

She looks at Clay over, the other doe seemingly not any more tired than she herself is feeling. "So guessing you're feeling pretty good right now, mm?"

Clay nods, "Guess I can gather up the food this time, if you don't mind setting up the fire?"

Nithya smiles as she sets her backpack down and stretches: "We can do that. Have fun."

Clay chuckle as she sets down her backpack alongside Nithya's, then, she turns back towards the forest and sniffs about. She waves back over her shoulder at Nithya as she heads off to forage, "You too!"

Nithya smiles as Clay goes, humming to herself, at least up to the instant she realizes she's looking at her friend's tail peeking out from the hole they had to make in the trekking pants.

She shakes her head and starts gathering flammable pieces from around them. "Wouldn't work anyway. He changes back soon and then it doesn't matter."

Clay , for her part, is actually outside of her own head for the moment, finding herself just enjoying nature. Perhaps it is knowing that she'll be changing back to normal soon taking the weight off of everything, or getting some distance from the temple and all the weirdness of that valley. Or, the actual experience of the hike in this form is surprisingly soothing, in a sense that this feels 'right', the ideal way to be. It's something he's aware of thinking, but not letting it concern him too much in the moment.

Following the scents and gathering up some berries and even some tubers to boil up, he returns shortly to camp, "Ah, alright. Think this'll be plenty I think." He settles down to prep the food, "How you feeling, Nithya?"

Nithya has gotten a fire going and for the moment has managed to not stew in her thoughts that much, just focusing on making the fire big enough with less than ideal supplies.

She smiles when she looks up: "Oh. That's definitely plenty. And, uh, I'm good I think. Ready to... Ready to go. You know."

Clay lifts his head to think, "I... am too. Today has been... good. A lot better than I thought it was going to be when I woke up, honestly. But... it will be good to be back in my real body."

He chuckles, "Though... I don't know... maybe it's crazy but, we could always return to these forms right? Maybe once in awhile on hikes? Being female is... weird... but the deer part of it isn't as weird as I would have expected, and it's certainly helpful out here."

Nithya blinks, not having expected that at all. "I mean, uh... Of course, if we can. Er, can we use these forms again without returning to the temple? The texts were pretty mum on that point."

Clay glances down, "I... I guess I don't know. I just figured that with the goddess tagging along. I kinda guessed this was a two-way ticket? She's not exactly 'leaving' us when we change back, right?" She chews on something a moment as she thinks, before realizing what it is and making a sour face, "I couldn't exactly read the tablets like you could."

Nithya considers. "Maybe. We can hope. I really do not know, since it wasn't clear on my reading. But... We can worry about that once we change to n-normal first, right?"

It's fairly obvious this has the black-maned doe a bit shaken, but now that they've decided she intends to see it through.

Clay blinks, watching Nithya's reaction. Her ears tilt towards her as she focuses, "...okay, but there's something else... what's wrong, Nithya? Is there something else about this ritual you're not telling me?"

Nithya sighs a bit. She looks at Clay, looking a bit defeated. "I..."

She swallows and starts again: "... It's possible I will miss this form. More than miss it, I almost fear if I am leaving a part of me behind." Her voice breaks a bit: "M-maybe a part that I've only had for a short time, but..." Her tail swishes agitatedly.

Clay is taken aback, certainly not expecting that either. "A... part of you? I mean... it's convenient, and... and I admit, it's not... it doesn't... it doesn't feel bad." He hesitates about admitting it actually feels good. "But we have to change back if we want to get into town and get home."

Nithya sighs. "I know. And whatever I feel, it's not fair to you." She looks at her friend and tries to remember the man he is. "You deserve to get yourself back."

Clay leans back, a bit staggered. "If it weren't for me, would you stay here?"

Nithya considers, then shakes her head. "No. I know I can't stay up here, for any amount of reasons." She glances at Clay: "Just... Maybe I just wanted more time to enjoy this."

Clay lets out a breath, in part relieved to hear she wouldn't stay... because he'd have to take serious time to consider staying with her. "Well... I want to be fair to you too."

Nithya frowns. "Let's just do it. Before either of us has time to rethink. Whatever else happens, we need to get home." She is rather obviously not happy, but she is determined. Almost as if she's been stewing on this most of the day...

Clay stares at Nithya, and extends his hand out to hers with a nod. "Just... don't feel you have to do this because of me."

Nithya sighs. "Doing this for us. I mean, it's the sane thing to do, right?"

Clay manages an awkward smile, "Never stopped us before, but I guess we gotta start being sane sometime?" He sighs, "If we gotta come back to this temple, we will. We'll do something."

Nithya gives her friend a small smile and whispers. "... Thank you."

With more intent in her, she nods. "Let's give it a go, then. We need to get out of Kamchatka, and to do that we need to not... Well, be deer."

Clay 's smile grows a little brighter, "Let's doe this."

Nithya blinks, then let's out a chuckle-snort. "Pfft. Yes."

She then takes a deep breath, and takes what little clothes she has, off, before sitting down near the campfire. Fire which is just a bit bigger than their usual needs, but she wants to be sure.

"Should be simple enough. Sit down, calm down, look at the fire and try and think of what your body - the one you want to return to - looks like."

Clay looks down a bit uncertainly, and then follows suit, removing her clothing. as well. He sits down and takes a moment to get his legs properly comfortable, something he still hasn't quite figured out with the digitigrade legs. "Alright... alright, simple enough."

Nithya nods, then gives Clay a smile. "See you on the other side." With that, she closes her eyes and focuses on the human she was... she is, and should be. Thinking about that dark skin, and only one set of breasts without mini versions on her belly, and normal fingers and toes...

To her credit, she is soon actually lost to imagining how she should be and not worrying about if she should be doing this.

Clay relaxes and stares into the fire, and thinks back to who she is... he is? Those errant thoughts and intrusive whispers return into his mind, the bargain struck with the goddess to reflect her image, but that was only in this form... right?

He could imagine human ears, and a human belly, human hands and feet, legs and arms. Other bits eluded him, parts and pieces that could be changed, if she wanted them to be. There was the struggle. ...what did she want? This isn't about one form to the next, it's... a mental imagine of who she could be... and the choice is the same that he faced in the temple.

She doesn't conciously imagine it, lost in the moment as he stares into the flames. It's not an active choice, but more of a subconscious one... a choice she made in the Temple when she agreed to accept these changes. An argument he made with herself, and lost without knowing or understanding why. And so, that picture in her mind is not who she was... not exactly...

Nithya winces a bit as the changes start, like she's being jerked at her spirit or something of that sort, but lets the changes go as they will. Her fur recedes starting from her belly, and her body starts to subtly, then quicker, change in form to what - who - she was. Her hooves turn into toes and feet again, her hands regain their fifth digit, and her face becomes that of an upright standing primate once more. All in all, the changes are much quicker this way and she lets out a gasp as they finish with almost as much of a jolt as they started.

Clay 's changes are equally quick, far quicker than she expects as she reverts from deer to human. The hooves are first, then up the legs and belly, the shrinking tail, and the chest and back. Her head reshapes, and then back down to her hands as the hardened fingers soften back into their previous soft hairless five-fingered hands.

The whole thing is like an electric current is run through her, ending with something of a pop as the energy disperses out and the fire flares up in response, and then settles back down.

Clay sits there, naked, with a human body once again, but other parts of her are quite unchanged from that doe form, her body remaining quite womanly, with shoulder-length rusty red hair. The doe-like spots that dappled her fur across her shoulders remain as freckles, and her chest remains quite full.

She lets out a breath, feeling quite relaxed as the changes draw to a close. "It... feels like it worked. Are you alright, Nithya?"

Nithya takes a deep breath in the aftershocks of the change, then opens her eyes. "Y-yes, I feel..." She stops speaking as she looks at Clay. Still very very feminine Clay. Her heart skips a beat or two before she dares speak again. "Oh, um..."

Clay blinks, "Is something the matter? What's wron-" She starts to stand up, and feels the weight of her movements. She slows herself down from rushing forward to reach for her chest, feeling the breasts without looking down. "...I... but I felt it working." She looks at Nithya, who looks like her old self again, "It worked for you? But I'm still a doe?" She lifts her hand up to examine it, not seeing any fur at all, then drops back down to her seat in confusion. "N-no... but I am still... I... wh-what?"

Nithya winces: "You look like yourself. But like... if you were - well - a woman. I d-don't know what went... wrong..." She trails off, uncertain of much of anything again now.

Clay looks down at her... himself? ...it feels less certain now than even before. "How...? I did what you said! I looked into the fire and just... imagined..." He trails off. What did she imagine?

Nithya hesitates, looking aside. She then quietly voices the question on both of their minds. "What was on your mind when... no, that's silly. You should still be back to being you." She doesn't sound entirely convinced, though.

Clay leans down to put her hands over her head. "I- I just thought of 'me'... and being myself."

Nithya pauses at that. She's heard about, and knows of people who...

She swallows, pulling her hands to her chest as it's pretty chilly to be naked human right now. "Clay... have you ever... thought about... this sort of thing happening, before we found that temple?"

Clay shakes her head, "No! I'm... I mean, no... not really... just..." She swallows. "Sometimes, I guess, I just wished... I could look prettier... b-but..." She trails off, letting her gaze drop down to her body again.

Nithya almost slips out 'well, you do look prettier' but stops herself from saying it.

"Maybe then it was just... a slip up in the ritual. Surely something that will correct itself, right?"

Clay sighs, feeling extremely guilty at the moment for some reason, "M-maybe..."

Nithya shudders, though it's probably just the cold. "Let's get some clothes on. Male or female, we're going to freeze tonight without fur."

Clay suddenly seems very aware of the cold, covering herself, "Y-yeah... I... yeah..." Her voice lowers again, and she quietly gets up to put back on the clothes she'd borrowed from Nithya.

Nithya gives Clay a sympathetic look as she gets up to start putting clothes on as well. As she puts her bra on... "Oh. It uh seems like... my gain in size... stayed."

Clay looks up and gives an unsure smile, "Well, uh, is that good?"

Nithya considers, but really they're so far beyond being embarrassed about things that... "Well. I have, more than once in my life, wished I had... bigger boobs." She gives Clay a meaningful look.

Clay 's expression fades back. "...I get what you're saying, Nithya... I just don't... I don't know. I never remember wanting this or wishing for it..."

He pauses and swallows, "I mean... sure, I know I wasn't exactly handsome... and sometimes I just thought... if I were a little more androgynous-looking, maybe I could pull off dressing a little cuter... but I was never unhappy."

Nithya hums as she continues putting clothes on: "I'm not sure this is about happiness, Clay. Well, in a way it is." She gathers her thoughts for a second: "You definitely noticed me enjoying being outside as a deer. Thing is, I have... maybe sort of envied various animals' abilities for moving out in the wild. Probably voiced several of these thoughts to you."

Clay nods quietly, "Guess I have... I just didn't think much of it. Hard to think you were being serious I guess... when it was... or uh, we thought it was impossible."

Nithya: "I didn't think all that much of it either. But... I can not deny the sheer joy I got from that form, Clay." She blinks as she thinks of something. "It was... maybe hinted at, in the texts, that the goddess grants... desires, wishes, hopes. I didn't think much of it as that's in pretty much all ancient texts regarding gods. But..."

Clay: "...I... just don't know if this is 'that'. Did I ask for this...?" She grows quiet again, shifting uncomfortably in her body.

Nithya smiles, having gotten her normal camp clothes on. She steps closer to give Clay a hand: "Hey. We'll figure this out. For now, let's get our tent together and some food in us." She smiles: "You're still Clay to me."

Clay quickly hugs Nithya tight, holding back some tears. "Th-thanks. I... I'm really unsure how I feel right now... I'm so confused... b-but... I'm not upset like I felt like I was when this started."

Nithya hugs tight: "I think 'confused' is part of our whole deal with this." She glances up at that darkening sky slowly bringing stars: "Wherever our divine 'benefactor' is, I get the feeling she's smirking."

Clay keeps her arms wrapped around Nithya and sniffles out a laugh, "I- I still think she's a pervert."

Nithya blinks and lets out a giggle. "Heh. Maybe."

Clay slowly lets go of Nithya and sighs. "Alright... guess we definitely do need food and the tent. Let's get to work."

Nithya gives Clay a warm smile, then turns to start setting up their tent.

Previous: Chapter 14 Next: Chapter 16

Home