Previous: Chapter 17 Next: Chapter 19

Several Days and Two Harrowing Flights Later.

Narrator: Experimentation and Practice had started to help them understand the limits of the restoration ritual, with what initially seemed like random results between transformations, they really couldn't risk changing overseas on a trans-pacific flight.

Some clothes shopping and discussion later, the two picked an alternative flight out of Russia that would at least get them away to somewhere safer... Japan. Sapporo specifically.

The travel was nerve-wracking, and the pair thankfully got through customs without much of a glance towards Clay's passport photo. This was followed by a four hour flight to Tokyo, and one hour more to fly north to Sapporo, a city on the northern island with a big population, but more importantly, renowned for its many parks.

And to that end, they booked a night at the Sapporo Park Hotel, so named because it was built nearly within Nakajima park inside the city. All said and done, the pair could all but feel the changes under their skin, as Clay fumbled with the hotel key card, at last getting the green light that signaled entry, she threw open the door and rushed inside, waving Nithya in before slamming the door shut a little too fast. But the Changes were already rapidly taking her.

"M-MADE IT!" She laughs aloud, seeing her hands already changing beneath her new shirt, "Sh-shit better get all this off before I ruin something."

Nithya swallows as the door closes behind them, then sighs in relief as she unbuckles her belt and lets her tail unroll from a painful position and snake out.

"S-started feeling that while were still on the bus."

She smiles at Clay and hugs her friend tight, utter relief washing over her for the fourth time in as many days. Too many close calls, too many nerve-wracking encounters with strangers, too much fear that any moment someone is going sniff out their true nature and something bad will happen.

She sniffs, tearing up in sheer relief now that they are behind closed doors, in private, and can let the fur come.

Clay hmphs at the sudden hug, laughing, "I should've worn gloves. I'm pretty sure they were staring at my hands when we checked in. But we made it! Ahhh..." She relaxes, and the changes almost seem to accelerate in response to the relief. "We'll have to take a note... Only lasted seven hours today... I think stress definitely accelerates the changes."

Nithya sighs into the hug: "We made it. A-and yeah, I think it does. Since it's..." She lets go of the hug enough to look at her friend. "... It's about control. I'm starting to think we can control this more than we thought."

Clay holds the hug until Nithya lets go, her face already starting to reshape, "That makes sense... If not for us holding it back the past hour, we'd have definitely caused a scene."

Nithya turns to hastily take her boots off, before giving Clay a smile. "Y-yeah. I don't know how we can do the flight home, or even to the continent." She sighs as she sits down on one of the beds. "... We may have to stay here and put some practice, that's what my gut says."

Clay follows suit, removing her boots and a layer of clothing before she paces the room a bit. She does dare to peek out through the curtains out towards the view of the park, "Forest only a step away at least. And at least here if we get spotted, we can claim we're... Going to a convention? Or mascots for something?"

Nithya chuckles softly. "The culture here is pretty big on mascots. But let's try to just not be seen, first." She stretches her legs as they change, the feeling of it becoming somewhat familiar, and she actually smiles when she is able to wiggle her hooves again.

"We're going to burn a lot of our travel budget for this year, but I'd say life-altering circumstances warrant that."

Clay groans, a half bleat-like noise, "I'm trying not to think on that... I don't mind sticking to home the rest of the year if we can manage to get home."

Nithya nods, her ear giving the tiniest of flicks despite being unchanged yet. "Honestly catching up on my literature after all this sounds great." She blinks: "... Although I may need to look for a new place to rent, one that caters to..." She motions at the park outside: "... Our new preferences."

She has been happy to live in a small apartment in a tall tower near the center of town, almost next to university, but rather obviously that will not quite do anymore.

Clay sighs, "Don't even know about me. All my stuff is in a storage locker. Parents place works well enough to crash for a month or two between trips, but this would be a bit hard to explain..." She swallows, poking at her chest, "Some of it I guess I'll have to explain, huh?"

Nithya sighs and gives a lopsided smile. "The small blessing in that being that you don't see them often enough. Easier to explain such a big change. And like... It's all over the medias these days anyway, isn't it. By the time you get to that point, you might know what to say..." She trails off into a small shrug.

Clay nods slowly, stepping back from the window to sit on the edge of the bed while her legs shift shape. "Eventually... Maybe. I gotta get my head around it first, I guess. I'm still struggling to get my head around it I think. But also... I don't know. I just feel 'right' about it."

Nithya looks at Clay, considering. "You have looked, travel and deer stress aside... Pretty 'home' in your new body. Like, not once have you actually said anything negative about your feminine form."

Clay blushes, "I... Err... Well... I mean, I... I'm stuck with it right? So gotta make the best of it. I... Do sort of like it."

Nithya hums. "You sound like I did when you first called me out on enjoying having hooves." She smirks as she scratches at her side growing fur: "Just saying~."

Clay glances over at Nithya's hooves. "...maybe? ...maybe. There's so many doubts about what I'm feeling, even now. But I'm not unhappy with the changes, as crazy as that sounds."

Nithya smiles. "I think, and maybe this is crazy talk, but maybe you are more home than you thought." She looks aside, thinking. "There were a few moments in last few days, through the haze of stress - few moments of peace, and you looked so... So free."

Clay blinks, "I... did?"

Nithya nods. "You blushed a lot when we were bra shopping, but once we got out of the store with you having your new, fitting bra on, you practically glowed for a moment."

"When the flight attendant called you by 'Miss', you stammered and blushed, but right after you had this tiny, satisfied smile on you."

"When we had our last ritual in Kamchatka, not once did you even hint at wanting to return to what was, and it didn't look like resignation at all."

Clay falls silent, thinking back on those moments. She definitely picked out a bra that was more feminine than was absolutely necessary. She reaches up to feel the fabric, "It's like... I know I'm not supposed to like this kind of stuff. Or at least, I... Thought I couldn't. As a guy, anyways. But then, part of me has realized that, if I'm not... why not? Why not indulge in the things I sort of wanted to do but felt like I couldn't because I was male..." She blushes as she realizes the definitive past tense of that statement.

Nithya smiles with a shrug as her changes reach her neck. "You won't see me stopping you. I don't particularly see activities having a gender designation - heck I've told off more than one old beard about that in my life -, but I know society at large does." She gets up to her hooves and offers a still-changing hand to Clay: "If you want to try and feel out which parts of feminity you like, I'm with you all the way."

Clay reaches out to take Nithya's hand, feeling the strangeness of it as the changes literally happen to her hand as she holds it.

"D-don't laugh, but... Okay Do you remember back in 5th grade? Halloween? That one kid, Joe? He came to the class party in a dress and wig and he looked so good. And it blew my mind... And I've just thought... I wish I could pull that off... I wish I could look that good."

She chuckles sadly. "Guess my own bias stopped that. Or my own self-doubt. I couldn't exactly pull off a dress with my build." She squeezes Nithya's hand, "Wh-when that flight attendant called me ma'am, I just... I felt pretty. I don't know if I am, really, but I felt like how I wished I could feel ever since that Halloween party... Th-that's a feeling I've pushed down for years... Ah... Shit..." She reaches up with her other hand to wipe away some tears.

Nithya takes the hand and sits down next to Clay. She listens intently, even as her face changes to that of a deer. When her changes are done and Clay is wiping tears, she finally speaks, her voice quiet: "...well, for better or for worse, I think you now have that. I... I think our benefactor saw something inside both of us we'd never even said to one another, out loud. And I don't mean the deer."

Clay 's ears twitch, her voice quiet. "M-maybe... I was never unhappy, like I was. I just never said anything, because what could I even do? But..." She sighs leaning against Nithya for a long moment, not quite grasping Nithya's entire message.

Nithya considers answering the question, but then brushes that aside for another thought. She lifts her hand to Clay's cheek, one doe looking warmly at another. "I think you look pretty."

Clay sniffles once more, staring into Nithya's eyes as the other doe puts a hand against her cheek. "I... Y-you do? Thank you, Nithya. I... I'd be so happy if you could help me explore who I am now."

Nithya smiles: "I would consider it my honor to help you, Clay. I'm at least partially to bla- actually it doesn't matter which of us caused this more, point is to get you to enjoy yourself."

She lightly brushes her hand at the other doe's hair, under her ear: "Whatever else the goddess did, I do think you look beautiful, Clay."

Clay chuckles quietly, "Oh, we can split the blame if you want. But I'm not even so sure 'blame' is the right word anymore." She hums as Nithya strokes a hand through her hair, "Y-you too, you know. But you've always been beautiful."

Nithya blinks and blushes ever so slightly. "...'always'? Do you... do you mean that?"

Clay nods, "I mean it... Never wanted to say it since... You know, I didn't want to send the wrong signals. You're my best friend, and admitting that kind of thing would just make stuff weird... Th-though it can't get much weirder than two deer in a hotel room together, and we're both ladies now, so..." She definitely doesn't realize the implications of the other half of that statement.

Nithya blushes more than a bit and swallows.

"Well, speaking of weird..." She takes a breath. "I don't know if you remember, but we joked years ago that we can plan for a date the moment you are a woman, since I am... into... ladies..."

Clay chuckles, recalling something like that, "Well, yeah, but that's never going to h-" she freezes up, mid-word.

Nithya just nods and blushes deeper, her wrists feeling very sweaty quite suddenly. "Y-yeah."

Clay 's eyes dart, as she tries to focus on anything but the beautiful doe in front of her, "I... I never wanted to ruin our friendship... You were always out of my league... Into other girls, and I just... Buried those feelings deep down..."

Nithya swallows, also looking aside: "I don't want to ruin our friendship, you're my best friend, I just want to..." She blinks, then turns back to Clay with an expression that is as 'deer in headlights' as she has been anytime this adventure.

"...um."

Clay pauses before she hugs Nithya tightly. "I always loved you Nithya."

Nithya returns the hug in stunned confusion. "Um..." Without much of actual thinking occurring, her snout finds Clay's as they softly touch.

Clay laughs nervously, instinctually nuzzling her snout, "Are... We really doing this?"

Nithya takes a sharp breath in: "If... i-if we have no reason not to..." She swallows, then dives for a kiss that's familiar, uncertain, odd feeling because of the snout and that she's wanted to do for a while now. All at the same time.

Clay kisses back, awkwardly and passionately, with all sorts of pent-up emotions bursting free within her.

Nithya leans onto Clay as she kisses, gasping as her passion takes over, the part that she's usually very good at burying deeper than certain stone temples. "I... I love you, Clay."

Clay 's ears perk up, and the doe practically squees, a long dead desire reignited in her chest, "I love you too! I love you, Nithya!"

Nithya feels her heart soar at hearing Clay reciprocate her feelings. She lightly pushes the other doe onto her bed and smiles as she leans over and whispers: "Once more, we are in agreement~."

Clay doesn't resist, but doesn't let go, pulling Nithya along with her, "We are, yeah~"

Nithya smiles as she just holds Clay closely, laying half on top of her and half to the side. "Ever since I first saw you... change, I... I admit I really enjoyed what I saw... i-if that's shallow of me, then I guess... so be it."

Clay blushes, holding her close, "A-all I had to do was change into a deer, huh? A small price to pay, really."

Nithya blinks, then touches her hand upon Clay's bra: "Well. Not all. But... well... yeah, I guess. I've always loved you as a friend. So this... I don't know if it makes sense, but h-here we are."

Clay shivers at Nithya's touch, "Y-yeah. I don't know if any of this makes sense. You've been my best friend almost my whole life. I... I don't love anyone as much as you, and I had your back no matter what. If... if this change made you feel something more for me, then I'll gladly embrace it. I... I already had embraced it."

Nithya swallows, leaning closer: "Y-yeah, I..."

For once, the language scientist archaeologist is out of words.

"...your butt is really cute."

Clay blushes hotly at the overt compliment, "O-oh. Yours too~." She lowers her hand down along Nithya's back, running her finger through the fur of her tail before squeezing her butt.

Nithya lets out the tiniest of squeaks at the touch, then gives Clay's cheek a lick in retaliation.

Clay giggles at the sensation of her friend's tongue though her fur. "Mmm, that feels weird, but I like it~"

Nithya giggles as well: "And tastes weird, but I had to try..." she leans her head on Clay's neck as her hand wanders over the doe's chest. "Just... don't let this part be a dream we wake up from later..."

Clay swallows, feeling Nithya's warmth atop him, "It feels like one... but it's not. And if it is, I will tell you all about it when we wake up."

Nithya swallows as well, then smiles: "S-sounds like a good plan to me..~." She leans in for another kiss even as her hands start to wander a bit upon Clay's chest and abdomen...

Clay kisses back, one hand holding Nithya's rear, while the other strokes along her back, running through the fur gently as they make out.

Previous: Chapter 17 Next: Chapter 19

Home