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The Next Morning.

Nithya mm's as she slowly awakes in her sleeping bag. The first thing she feels is the relative coolness of air on her face, compared to having fur. She sighs a bit as she remembers.

She gets out of the sleeping bag enough to sit up, and now the cold really hits her. She shudders and brushes her hair out of her face with her hand, noting again that it stayed longer after the change back as well. 'Some good out of this, anyway'.

She then gives the sleeping form of Clay a look and feels pretty strange about the other woman now. Woman that is actually a man, or at least... for the moment, says he is. Nithya will respect their decision on the subject obviously, even if she already kind of has a hunch. While what Clay did say was rather indecisive, what they didn't say spoke volumes. Even if Clay did not say it out loud at any point, there definitely was a part of them that enjoyed being a doe.

Nithya turns to look away, digs up for her hairbrush in her backpack, and starts brushing her now-longer hair. Today is the day they're supposed to show back up in civilization, after all. Might as well attempt to look like they haven't spent nearly a month in the wilds...

Clay slept well through the night, no strange dreams, no tossing and turning, she was half exhausted just from the experience of everything so far and in trying to hold themself together. Something about getting this far has just let them finally get some truly good, deep sleep.

She slowly yawns, stretching only to find herself met with a morning chill outside the comfort of her sleeping bag. "Gah! Chilly!"

She slips back into the sleeping bag, then glances over at Nithya, watching her brush her hair as she slowly slips back out into the morning air. "Hey... uh, morning." He smiles weakly at Nithya, that old uncertainty creeping back into his voice, "I... I'd almost think it was all a dream... but I guess looking at me, it's pretty obvious that it wasn't."

Nithya glances at Clay with a smile: "Morning." She would be lying to herself if this wasn't something some part of her has not dreamed of...

...which brings a fresh pang of guilt. Was this something Nithya's desires caused? For the moment, she shelves that thought until she has more evidence.

"Yeah, don't think it was. You're still a woman, unfortunately."

Clay frowns slowly, voice low, "Yeah... unfortunately..."

He gets up at last, digging through his pack to get dressed, his old clothing fitting a little better on a human body, if still too loose in some places, too tight in others. "Mrph... I really had hoped being human again meant I could at least use my clothes instead of lugging them around for nothing."

Nithya gives Clay a look of sympathy. "It's definitely... less than ideal, in a lot of ways. But at least like this, we can... probably get home, right?"

Clay takes a breath and nods, "Yeah, I can manage that, no problem."

He shakily gives Nithya a thumbs up, trying his best to look confident and ready for today's hike, "You don't have to worry about me."

Nithya hums, not quite believing that but trusting Clay enough to take him at his... her... word all the same. "If you're sure. Let's get this show on the road... or I guess, finally off the road. I really want that two star hotel bed now."

Clay sighs, "I'm... not entirely sure, but not a lot of choices. I can handle this. Or, at least, I'll do my best to handle it. But all that said, I think I can handle a lot right now if it gets me a warm shower."

Nithya nods. "We've been through perhaps just a bit more than what we thought we would."

She is quiet for a moment, as her mind wanders while she starts putting clothes on. "...why was I so afraid of becoming just myself, again? In hindsight my... feelings, last night, make no sense."

Clay chuckles, "Just a tad bit of an understatement, that."

He seeks out a few more layers, bundling up with some of the easier to use loose clothing like his scarf. Listening to Nithya, he refrains from making a pun about hindsight in this exact moment...

"Was it fear, then? I... I was so worried about us losing ourselves to the 'deer' instincts... but it certainly didn't feel like losing anything. Just... a lot of new sensations. You... were enjoying it a lot. Were you just afraid to lose it?"

Nithya: "Yes, I was..." She shakes her head, looking at Clay with a combination of worry and fear. "I was afraid of losing a part of me, but that makes sense. The deer isn't a part of me. Never was." She starts to feel a bit agitated.

"I was almost happy being not human, Clay. What is wrong with me?"

Clay listens with some growing concern, nodding slowly, "I... nothing? Nothing is wrong with you... we've been through a lot these past days. Being a doe like that was... a lot. If it wasn't for these... other changes keeping me distracted, I could see not wanting to give that up."

"Are you still feeling like that now? Like... something is missing?"

Nithya swallows: "I was just... almost willing to just... stay that way. I wanted to, and now that desire makes no goddamned sense."

She starts breathing faster. "...why would I do that? What did that deity inflict upon my head to make me think that?"

Clay steps closer, reaching a hand out towards Nithya, "H-hey, hey, deep breaths! Deep breaths... We're ourselves again, Nithya." She blinks, glancing away slightly, "We're mostly ourselves."

Nithya breathes, feeling a bit better as Clay touches her. "We're... yeah. We survived that. N-not that anyone will ever believe us... but we're, er... back. More or less."

Clay runs her hand down to hold Nithya's, squeezing slightly. "We survived it. And we're on our way home now. It's still a little tricky, sure. But we've had plenty of tricky situations before. This one is just weirder than most. But we'll make it home. Together."

Nithya starts to breathe slower: "Y-yeah. We will. Just..." She shudders a bit, squeezing at Clay's hand. "Just... I don't know. I feel so confused right now."

Clay nods, keeping hold of her hand. "As you said, plenty of that going around right now. Don't feel bad about being confused by this mess. I thought you were handling it way better than I was... but, hey, we can work out those feelings together, right? ...I'm probably not done crying on your shoulder about... this."

Nithya nods, leaning a bit closer to Clay. "Yeah... just... I was so happy, I remember that, and now I can't tell you why. Leave all my life, all my achievements, leave you even, just to... what, eat forest forage for the rest of my life?" She sighs deeply.

Clay shifts to hug Nithya as she leans in, "Well... for what it's worth, you wouldn't have had to leave me. There's no way I would just abandon you."

Nithya hugs, then chuckles low. "G-guess you got me there. Kinda crazy." She takes a few more deep breaths. "Okay. Okay. Get a handle on it. This episode was just a nightmare or something, and we can get back to-" She blinks and looks at Clay. "Er, well... again, mostly."

Clay sighs, "I'll take the mostly... as long as we can get back. Nothing has happened to me that I... I can't live with."

Nithya gives Clay a squeeze. "I'm not sure what I'm hyperventilating for when you got the short end of the stick. So I guess the question is, if this... turns out to be permanent...?" She looks at her friend with a bit of worry.

Clay gives a warm smile, "I've thought about that too... but hey, maybe I just do the ritual again, stare into the fire, and... think about myself a little better next time so that I get it um... right."

He glances down to the floor, then back up at Nithya, "Fuck... I just..."

Nithya gives Clay a worried look at that: "You just... try and think of yourself. But I'm guessing that's harder than you would think."

Clay nods, "A-and I think it might be the same as you? Or... similar... I almost feel afraid to do that. B-but that makes no sense."

The tan girl considers: "I don't know. If I were to... do it again now, I wouldn't feel afraid like I did."

Clay sighs, "Just... that same gut feeling I had before... I don't know..." He waves a hand, forcing a laugh, "Just confusion for both of us..."

Nithya sighs with a small smile: "Yeah, no kidding. We'll be feeling this one for a while, I think. Might need to postpone that plan to go to that Cairo dig."

Clay chuckles, "That's fair, I think. I'm curious, I admit... But we need to figure ourselves out before we try to unravel the ancient mysteries of the world."

Nithya gives Clay a look. "I think we've had quite enough of those. I swear the next thing I want to read is like a comic book or something."

Clay gives an equally familiar look back, "I've got some well loved fantasy books you could read. No deer in them at all! Well, they're hunting a white deer in Murkwood, but it's barely more than a single passage."

His expression grows more serious and he looks up into Nithya's eyes, "... I'll say it to you, because it was immeasurably helpful when you said it to me. You. Are. Nithya. And you always will be to me."

Nithya blinks, then smiles. "...y-yeah. I know. And this deer thing is now behind us, anyway. 'I hope'.

Clay nods, "It is. We hike into town today, get us a hotel room, some food, a shower, and some Internet access and plan our way home. Sound good?"

Nithya smiles, giving Clay one more squeeze on the shoulder before letting go. "Yeah. Let's do that."

Clay grins, patting her shoulder in return, "You're the best. Let's get things packed up and we'll be in civilization in no time."

She turns back to her sleeping back and starts to roll it up.

Nithya nods and starts packing her own bag. "At most, second best, after you."

Clay smirks, "Well I had graciously removed myself from the competition, but if you insist..."

Nithya turns to give Clay a bit of a poke on the shoulder: "I do."

Narrator The camp is deconstructed fairly quickly, even with the larger than average fire, and the two are back to hiking quickly, both eager to be in a position to say this is all (mostly) behind them.

A few hours later, they can see the first signs of civilization in the distance.

Clay takes a deep breath, "I'd wager we're about two or three hours from that road, and then it's straight into town." She pauses to stretch, popping a sore joint in her neck before idly scratching at her arm. "We're making good time today."

Nithya nods, the walking having once again improved her mood. She stretches as well as she steps next to Clay, a bit one with her hands against her back. "Mmm! Eager to leave this part behind us."

She does not yet notice the tail snaking out of her pants and into view as she stretches.

Clay nods, looking forward to seeing other people, even if she's never been much of an extrovert. "I need something to make me feel like we're back in 'reality'."

She keeps itching, not really thinking about it for the moment. She takes a moment to get a few deep breaths and then hefts her backpack into place, "Ready for the last leg of the journey?"

Nithya smiles: "I am. Eager to get out of this forest and getting some kind of wheels under us eventually." She starts walking again, humming to herself, tail lightly swishing behind her.

Clay laughs, "I just want to eat something bad for me. Like a-" she pauses, catching a glimpse of Nithya's backside as she starts to move ahead. "Oh fuck... Fuck, Nithya, h-hold up. Your..." She shakily points to her friend's tail.

Nithya blinks and turns around: "Hmm? What up?"

Clay continues to point, "Your... Your tail, Nithya... Fuck... Am I going crazy? Y-your tail is back."

Nithya: 's hand goes down to where her tail would be and she gasps loudly as she feels it. "Oh... oh no." She gives Clay a worried look. "...we might not be in the clear yet, after all."

Clay reaches down to her shift and rolls up the sleeve, revealing the same fuzzy brown fur creeping towards her hand. "It's happening to me too... D-did we do the ritual wrong?"

Nithya looks up with a sigh: "I suppose only our benefactor knows..." She glances at her tail, flicks it once and frowns.

Clay takes a few deep breaths, "Okay... okay... we... we know how long this takes. We've been through it before. We can probably get to town before it's anything noticeable... and then... um..." She pauses, trying to think through what to do. "Th-this is bad... we... we can stop here, find somewhere safe to camp out... and try the ritual again?"

Nithya hums even as fear lightly grasps her. "Y-yeah, we best... stay here in the forest until we c-can get this clear again." She curses loudly at the forest in general: "Dammit! We were this close!" She then frowns as she feels a sensation in her boots. "...it's faster this time. My toes are already changing."

Clay blinks, "Shit... no no no..." She looks down to see the fur quite literally creeping down to her hands. "It is faster... but... why? I thought... I thought we were forgiven... I thought we struck a bargain..." She drops to her knees.

Nithya starts to nod, then freezes as she gets a thousand-yard stare on her face. "...a bargain to show her the world, be her... conduits. Vessels. Priestesses." She turns to Clay with a fearful look.

Clay frowns, "I- I just thought... she'd hitchhike a bit in our heads... maybe we'd do some kind of prayer to her every so often... I... I didn't..." She swallows, then pushes herself back up to hug Nithya. "W-we got through this before. I w-won't let you lose yourself, o-okay? I won't."

Nithya swallows as she hugs Clay. "I know. We won't. I won't. We'll just... the deer thing, again." She squeezes Clay tightly: "L-let's look for a good spot, then. Cause t-there's no point in trying to do the ritual again before we're... we're..."

Clay squeezes back, her hands growing fur and fingers hardening already. "I know... c-come on, Nithya. We can hold each other together, as long as need be. I... I think there was a clearing not too far back that we can use."

Nithya nods, then disengages enough to start taking her hiking boots off. "I-if this goes in the same way a-as that first time... I better get these off now."

Clay sighs, "I... I'm sorry." He doesn't quite know about what... about everything in general all at once, but he just feels like the words need to be said.

Nithya swallows deep. "I-it's... we can deal. Just, you know... again."

Clay nods, fighting back tears as she tries to hold herself together, "Y-yeah, again..."

Nithya gets her boots off and for a moment feels pretty tentative on the wet forest floor, before her feet start turning into hooves at a much faster rate than the previous time. She looks at them with an expression somewhere between wonder and disgust.

"A-at least we know what's coming."

Clay can feel the fur spreading, like a vague tickle up her arms and down her back, climbing her neck already, "It's... So much faster... But I guess we don't have to worry about what is happening, only the why.... It's happening the same way it did before, too. For each of us."

Nithya nods: "Much faster, but... well, I think this is the kind of thing that was in the fine print of our deal." She considers, trying to think back to that moment, or several moments, of the quite heavy presence of the goddess in her head.

"...I suspect, and kind of fear, that this is going to become a regular thing."

Clay feels a dread run through his spine as if in confirmation of Nithya's theory, "...you think this... Is permanent?"

Nithya frowns, then shakes her head. "Not... permanent, just... I don't think we get to stay as human permanently either." She sighs as she shifts her standing position, her legs taking up fur now: "I need to sit down."

She does so, just on the ground, where she starts taking extra layers of clothes off. "Just a feeling, though. I can't confirm anything I have in my head about this cause it's all from that same divine source. All I have is a feeling..."

Clay takes a moment, then sits down beside her on the ground as her ears begin to grow, as he tries to logic this out a little. "I've always learned to trust my feelings about stuff... So... The ritual...so maybe... it's timed?"

"When you read the tablet, you said something about it being used to 'interact with outsiders'? So maybe it is just... like putting on a nice suit for a meeting with the finance community to get a dig approved. So, based on when we did it... it lasts, what... Eighteen hours or so? Guess we slept through most of that time, huh."

Nithya nods as she looks at the fur spreading up her thighs and her tail lenghtening: "That does make sense. Maybe there is more to it, but that's the feeling I get." She frowns, then glances at Clay: "I think we will always return to being deer ladies, whether or not that's in our plans at that moment."

Clay sighs, falling silent for a moment to think. "We... we can test around this... We can make it work... I'm not giving up on getting home."

He manages to force a smile through his shifting snout, "Besides, if this goddess wants to see the world, how much sense would it make for us to just get trapped in this forest?"

Nithya smiles even as she feels the fur travel up her hips and her legs shift to more digitigrade position one more. "Yeah. There has to be some key to it, but... I think we just have to keep our heads together and figure it out."

Clay nods, voice a bit quiet as she ponders, "Nothing to catch us by surprise this time, I'm already a woman afterall..."

Nithya blinks at that statement. "Yeah. You are, so this should be... w-well, still weird, but not as weird, happening a second time..."

Clay lifts her hand and holds up two fingers, not terribly far apart, "About this much less weird. By volume." She glances down at her chest, feeling the fur spread down her back and towards her legs, "Though that volume is all in my chest..."

Nithya snort-giggles despite the situation: "I suppose there is that. For me, this change seems to go more towards my hips for whatever reason."

Clay shrugs, "My hypothesis remains valid. The deer goddess is a pervert. Nothing wrong with a bit of hips though... Err..." She blushes a bit beneath her fur.

Nithya blinks, then smirks: "Well, nothing wrong with having a bit of a cup size either, if that's what you think." She stretches as the change spreads up her abdomen, teats appearing although she doesn't seem to mind them this time as much...

Clay glances away shyly, "W-well... I don't... Not think that... It's... Complicated? Complicated feels like too mundane a word for what this is."

Nithya softens her smile: "Yeah. Sorry. And it's okay."

'Okay if you think my ass looks good.'

"...okay to get weird thoughts with this, yeah."

Clay chuckles quietly, "O-oh, well... Good. Nothing for you to be sorry about... They're just... Weirder than usual lately. For obvious reasons..."

Nithya nods with a bit of a sigh. "Yeah. No kidding." She watches the fur slowly creep up her chest, under her sports bra and then fairly soon above it. "You know it's kind of funny, but like... the concept of having fur, I don't that's what bothers me about all this, that much."

Clay pauses, reaching a hand over to stroke her own fur. Her entire torso has changed, culminating in her own teats emerging just above the pants. At this point, Clay gets wise and reaches down to remove her boots as well. "It's... You're not wrong. I mean... To me, the worst part is this feeling of losing control. In part, losing control of my body... But the parts of the change, like, removed from the idea of the change, aren't so bad... If that makes any sense at all." She sighs, laughing lightly.

Nithya sighs and shakes her head: "It makes entirely too much sense. I mean, pretty much what I lost myself about this morning, and... I still don't know which side of me is right. Like, yes, all this change is hardly convenient, but at the same time it's not hurting us and at least as long as we are out of sight of people, it's... useful, even." She looks at Clay and shrugs with a lopsided smile.

Clay nods, "Were it under different circumstances... It's even beautiful. I mean, in a weird way, sure, but..." She trails off, blushing that she's revealed a bit too much. "N-not that I was into any of that kind of thing. If any of this were just a tad less terrifying and cryptic..." She trails off again.

Nithya blinks, shifting her sitting position as her legs finish changing and her neck starts to subtly grow longer, as her hears wander upwards and her arms are covered in fur. "Beaut..." She blinks again, realizing there's no way Clay had a mirror anywhere up there, and the only other deer she might have been looking at is...

Suddenly, Nithya finds herself blushing a bit. "Yeah uh... it's not the worst thing... we're not the worst thing to look at when we're... well, deer."

Clay nods quietly. "...yeah... Yeah. It's just going to make living a damn inconvenience anywhere else but out in the wilderness. And I'm not going to let us just end up stuck in the wilderness."

Nithya nods: "It... me neither. I don't want to, and we can't either, not if we want to have anything left of our lives." She frowns, the expression looking a bit more extreme than usual because her face is shifting to the cervine one.

Clay grins, finishing removing her boots just in time for the toes to start turning to hooves, a slightly disconcerting thing to watch happen once again, "I'm glad we're agreed then. I like our life. Weirdness aside..."

Nithya shudders a bit as she feels her changes complete once more. She feels a sense of... being whole again, but tempered by her earlier feelings of not giving everything up for the deer either.

"...if we can not find a way to change this, and frankly I'm not that enthused of our odds consider where and how this happened in the first place... we maybe have to look into figuring out how best to control this instead. Since it is all tied to doing that ritual, it might matter when and where and what mood and how focused we are..."

Once more, the black-maned doe is feeling better by having something to decipher.

Clay is not far behind, as the hooves fuse together, she can feel her own change complete with a shiver that runs through her body. She slumps a little, then chuckles, "Well, here we are again, hm? A little closer... a little further away. But... it doesn't feel hopeless, at least."

Nithya nods slowly... in agreement. "It doesn't, no. Like, we're still us - well, again, mostly." She considers, getting up to her hooves and once again finding it very easy to stay balanced. "But like, things feel doable."

Clay grins, "We just gotta figure things out, and improvise... those are literally what we're best at, right?"

Nithya chuckles a bit, her left ear flicking: "We are. So guess we are back on track, just not in a way we expected to be..."

Clay digs at the ground with a hoof before standing up, finding her balance as well, "A different track, but a track none-the-less. It's... not so bad, right? We can do this."

Nithya nods, considering for a moment. She offers her hand to her friend: "We can. Just... Maybe we need to plan a route that gets us as close to Petropavlovsk without any potential onlookers."

Clay nods, "And... we meditate in the morning, before we set out. That way we can at least get into town and do what we need before we change back to this... I hope."

Nithya sighs. "Yeah. I don't really fancy our odds, but what choice do we have?" She hefts her backpack back on and gives a wry smile. "The one thing on our side is that we are so strange at a casual glimpse that if someone sees us like this, they may not mention it to anyone."

Clay snorts, "Or they'll take a blurry photo of us, and we'll end up on one of those cryptid documentaries."

Nithya smirks: "As long as they don't ask for an interview, this fur probably looks terrible on camera."

Clay straightens up, "I'll handle the interviews. I'll tell them about my college thesis on the Virgina Mound Builders and the misconceptions surrounding their construction. That'll make them never want to deal with us again."

Nithya laughs: "Pfft, you got that one, then."

She looks up towards the mountain that is between them and Petropavlovsk: "I figure as long as we stay on this side, and keep to the woods, we're safe from prying eyes.

Clay hums, "And... Might want to keep the fire down. Smoke might attract attention, if someone were looking..." She sticks her tongue out and sighs, "Ugh, now I'm thinking all paranoid. At least it's not hunting season... I think. Does Russia have hunting seasons? Or is it like Wisconsin, where the 'legal hunting season' is just a suggestion."

Nithya blinks: "...not exactly something that occurred for me to check. But I... I think it might be in the fall, months from now. I hope. Maybe. Possibly." She sighs. "Let's just stay out of sight anyway."

Clay nods, "That's... when it's supposed to be. Let's... yeah, let's just be as cautious as we can."

Nithya sighs a bit, looking between their deer bodies. And she can't quite bring herself to hating the sight. They both look pretty appealing, really. "Thankfully we only need the fire to focus on, so it doesn't have to be big..."

Clay: "That'll become a problem once we're actually in the city... we can't exactly start a fire in a hotel room. Wonder if we can find something else to do the trick?"

Nithya hums, then chuckles: "I wonder if one of those fireplace apps on a phone does the same thing? It's technically staring at a fire..."

Clay blinks, "Huh... that might work. The only solution I had was finding some matches? Or candles? An app would be nice though."

Nithya frowns a bit. "Fire alarms are a thing, though. Though then it depends on the hotel room..."

Clay nods, "Exactly... the app is a way better idea." She rests a hand against her cheek, trying to think up any other problems they might have in doing this. "The only other issue might be... actually staying human on a full plane flight... we really need to test this all out better."

Nithya nods: "Yeah... guess the only way is to just test. Carefully."

Clay tilts her head, feeling very tired, even as her new form feels full of energy, "I... feel like we're taking this too easily. But... I guess I'm just tired of freaking out and crying when it won't make much difference." She looks up at Nithya, "Are you okay? You know I won't judge if you're not."

Nithya is quiet for a second before she dares to speak. "I'm... yes, and no. I feel like I should be crying and afraid and freaking out, but... I'm just not, right now. Maybe you are right, we're just too tired."

Clay smiles at Nithya, "A guy... or, uh... not. W-well, a person can only go through so much before it just stops... I don't know..." She sighs, then steps closer to hug Nithya once more. "I wish this weren't our lot, but my gut say... you're right. This might just be what we have to deal with now."

Nithya hugs tight and gives a soft sniff. "We... I don't know. Maybe our second ritual will get it fixed for good, but... I don't really feel like that's the case. Just a hunch."

Clay squeezes Nithya close, "Y-yeah... I... I think I've got the same hunch. Maybe that's why my gut was telling me that ritual wasn't the answer... part of me knew it wouldn't fix things. I... I guess maybe that's why I'm still female too?" That rings a little hollow as she says it though.

Nithya considers for a second, then leans back to look at her friend. "...how are you feeling about that part of this weird equation?"

Clay releases the hug, but sticks close to Nithya, glancing away, "I... I mean, it's less weird than the deer thing. Which... is weird in itself, cause it felt way More weird than becoming a deer at first."

Nithya touches her hand on Clay's neck just slightly. "But... weird or not, do you feel like it's... I don't know, wrong? Or did the goddess change that in your thinking as well?"

Clay blinks, but doesn't shy away from the touch. Her eyes, however, go wide, ears drooping, "N-no. It... It did, it felt really wrong, for a while. But... I don't... My thinking hasn't been changed..." She.... N-no, he tears up, "H-has it? Oh, hell, Nithya..."

Nithya considers, her heart dropping a bit at the reaction. "No... I mean... I don't know. We don't know." She glances aside, her voice quiet: "You saw me earlier, not understanding my desire to stay a deer. And yet, now that I am again one... I kind of do understand it. I'm not sure which part of it is instinct borne of our bodies being magically changed, and which part is our thinking changing because... well, sometimes our thinking changes without any outside help."

Clay sniffles, "I... I don't know. I don't know what I'm thinking. I guess, part of me thought, hey, if I'm stuck like this for awhile, m-maybe I can make it work? I can do things I've wanted to but couldn't, you know? B-but was that me? My voice? Or... N-now I don't know..."

Nithya considers what to say for a moment.

"Well. Still Clay to me, but I think I understand." She glances at her own tail flicking: "We're still us, but I think the us that was has now a slightly different definition, as it were. Unless something magically changes further... I think having hooves and fur is just going to be a recurring thing in our lives. As will..." She looks at Clay with a sympathetic smile: "...the rest of it, in your case."

Clay steps back and awkwardly rubs her hands together, unsure what to say for a moment as her eyes search for something intently on the forest floor. "If... When we do the ritual again, I won't be turning back. I... I think I realized that when you first told me about the ritual. That gut feeling, you know? It... Just felt like it wouldn't work. Maybe I didn't want it to work... I don't know anymore."

Nithya looks at her friend: "I imagine that is for you to know. Far as I am able to tell, we did do the ritual as successfully as we could. I don't know if there are factors to it that would make it behave differently."

She realizes she may be in for a wholly different field of study that she likely can't tell anyone but Clay about, then dismisses the thought before it causes a headache.

Clay nods, looking back up at Nithya, "I... I am pretty sure we did too. It... I'm... Ugh, it's so confusing! I'm 'male', right? I've always been male. I've never had doubts, a stray bit of curiosity, sure... Why do I..." His voice drops low, "...do I want this now? It's not the goddess, it's not the ritual... The problem is me."

Nithya sighs, offering her hand to Clay: "I can't answer that for you. And far as my opinion is concerned... kind of conflicted between what I know of who you are, and what our current reality is. If you still... feel male, then that's what you are." She pauses. "Not that such things have ever mattered between us."

'If we ignore that him being a her really changes some things in my libido that I'm trying to ignore, at least...'

Clay takes her hand. "I... Don't. I don't feel that. But now I doubt the reason why I don't feel that." She smiles at Nithya, "It... It never really did matter between us, huh? We've always just been Clay and Nithya, on another adventure, hm?"

Nithya smiles: "That we are. Sure, this one got more complicated and dare I say hairy than expected, but yes, we're still us, doing what we do. At least, once we figure this set out and manage to get home."

Clay wipes a tear away, "Y-yeah. Okay. This is just one more adventure. A-and we're still us. And we're still in it together." She takes a deep breath, and seems to straighten her posture as best as she can in this form.

Nithya nods and steps close again for hug. "One day at a time... and one change at a time. We're not going to let being homo cervinus or something stop us from doing what we want."

Clay giggles, "Homo Cervinus? Really? What next? We buy some leotards and start fighting crime?"

Nithya blinks, then laughs: "Gods, I hope not." She sticks her tongue out: "You can't blame me for wanting to put scientific names to this madness."

Clay grins, reaching up to boop Nithya's snout, "You know Biology was not my strongest subject. My mind went to comic books, because I was a corrupted youth."

Nithya blinks at the boop: "Mmf! Dang that feels weird. And you reading comics is not my fault."

Clay pulls her hand back, "Ah, sorry. And I didn't say it was your fault!"

Nithya sighs amusedly and shakes her head: "Let's get this freakshow on the road. We should be near town in just a couple of hours, then we do the ritual again and we find a motel room as perfectly normal travelers." She blinks: "...one with an easy access to sneak back into the forest, I think. Suppose that's one good thing, kind of, from being out here in the middle of nowhere."

Clay glances around them, "Easy access to remote wilderness is usually not listed on the accommodations, no. But it is convenient for us at the moment. Let... Let's go. Before I talk myself out of feeling alright about this again."

Nithya nods: "And before I talk myself into staying in this forest forever, or something." She starts picking up her clothes, once again feeling the most comfortable traveling in just a tank top and shorts.

Clay nods, taking a moment to remove the layers of clothing she'd packed on this morning as well, until she's just wearing Nithya's bra and the shorts from before. "You'll have to talk me into it to. We're in this together."

Nithya smirks a bit: "There's that. You can be hard to convince at times, which in this case would be a good thing." She sighs: "Let's hope it doesn't come to that. I will make my wilderness running side and my hotel bath desiring side agree if it kills me."

Clay nods, finished changing, "We will. Somehow. And... I will figure out who or what I am too."

Nithya smiles: "Getting out of the forest might help with that, as well."

Clay starts to walk, half a trot really, "Maybe... a bit of civilization might let us both sort some stuff out that is... honestly kind of difficult when it's just the woods in every direction we look."

Nithya nods as she starts going as well, the pair doing a decent pace almost right away. "No kidding. Once we are able to leave Kamchatka behind us, I'll be quite happy if I don't have to observe another pine forest in a while."

Clay chuckles, this time keeping pace with Nithya, "So, we skip my planned trip to Vancouver. Okay, I guess."

Nithya gives Clay a wry look: "At least if you do it, don't do it in October."

Clay hums, "Yeah, hunting season for sure."

Nithya gives a bit of a sigh as they trot forward: "Going to be conscious of a lot of things we didn't have to care about before, and I suspect we have only scratched the surface."

Clay nods, "If this is... 'us'... y-yeah. Yeah, we'll figure it out."

Nithya: "I mean, we could change back tomorrow and never see fur on ourselves again, but... yeah, probably not going to happen. I'd rather prepare based on what we do know now."

Clay grins, "You're much better at planning than I am. But I'll provide my valued input as ever. And... so far, I think you're right about it all..."

Nithya gives Clay a wry look: "You know what I hate about this? That I know things, but so far almost all my knowledge about our changes have been imparted into me in ways wholly not scientific or documentable. Dreams, visions, instincts. Drives me nuts."

Clay glances up to the trees as they continue through the forest, thinking, "Our illustrious patron has been fairly tight lipped, hasn't she? Can she not just 'tell us'? Or is it just more fun for her to keep us guessing the answers."

Nithya chuckles softly as she dodges a branch. "Language barrier. She didn't exactly use words when we agreed, did she." She pauses, glancing at Clay's bouncing chest. "And she's a pervert."

Clay follows Nithya's look down to her chest, and blushes, "R-right. That hypnothesis carries forward. Part of me feels like I still don't even know what I agreed to. I remember it all being so hazy and... almost... not quite painful..."

Nithya nods: "It felt like... this kind of white void for a bit, and I still have no idea how long it lasted. Might have been just a few moments, or hours... we kinda had other thoughts than figure that out, did we."

Clay: "Yeah... I don't know either. I just remember all the conflict... like we were arguing... or someone was arguing with me. I can't say." Clay grows quiet a moment, reflecting back on the experience, but can't glean anything else from the memory.

Nithya: "Kind of. Maybe. But like... I do think we made the right choice agreeing to the deal, though." She shudders a bit: "I wonder how many deer have lived and died in these forests that weren't born deer."

Clay glances down, "Th... there were a lot of deer in that valley... they can't..." She shivers as well, "W-we should keep moving."

Nithya looks a bit afraid for a second. "Yeah. Let's. Sooner we are out of Kamchatka, the better."

Clay increases his speed just a bit, feeling a bit of dread at the idea of staying in these woods any longer than necessary.

Nithya does likewise, and for a while they drop talking as they have a newfound hurry to keep going.

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