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Nakajima Park, sometime in the pre-dawn.

Nithya gives one more listen to the park around her ears flicking this way and that. "I don't hear anyone nearby. We can start."

In the near-perfect darkness, she smiles at the other doe with her. Her... Girlfriend, one might now say.

"You look beautiful in that top."

Clay giggles, in the day since the two have spoken their feelings, she's relaxed quite a bit more about herself as a woman. Having her girlfriend compliment her has certainly done a lot of good to that end as well.

She takes a deep breath, readying herself, "Whenever you're ready. And so do you, by the way. Err, in your top, I mean... or... just beautiful in general."

Nithya gives a soft laugh in the darkness as she sits down on the grass in the small thicket the pair found. "Either way works for me. And either form."

She digs up her phone, having located a 'calming fireplace' app onto it - and to her surprise it has worked just as well as an actual ritual campfire. The requirement to be in a forest has proven to be slightly harder to artificially dodge around, but that's livable.

She takes a deep, calming breath, then smiles at her girlfriend: "See you on the other side."

Clay winks at Nithya and bows her head, "Looking forward to it." She looks down at her own phone, pulling up the app and breathing in deep. Slipping into that quiet meditation has almost gotten easier with each time, or perhaps it's simply the relaxed nature of this moment compared to all the previous attempts.

Nithya looks down, letting her mind wander to her human form. Tan skin with no fur. Considerably less pronounced facial features than those of a deer. A different kind of beautiful, as her girlfriend might put it.

Soon the changes start washing over her. Fur receding, tail shrinking behind her, hooves morphing into feet once more. The deer is taking a backseat to the human.

Clay relaxes into the meditation, now fully picturing that face she saw in the mirror at the hotel not so long ago, the red hair and freckles across her skin, with her cute boobs, She thinks of herself as a human, and soon her body follows the mental image, and she shifts.

She lets out a deep breath as she feels the changes come to a close, "Ahh, back to normal~. The uh, new normal anyways."

Nithya feels that small jolt when the changes finish and smiles. "I've actually been thinking... Might be the doe side of things that is our normal. The default side."

Clay tilts her head, "How so? You think... We're the deer now?"

Nithya stretches as she gets up, the human skin certainly feeling the cool night air. "Mm! Think about it. We become deer whether we want to or not, but we have to go out of our way to become human again." She looks at Clay and motions at them both: "You probably have also noticed that your body wants to be a deer again, after just some hours as human. At least, I find my thoughts drifting, almost yearning for that moment where I can let go and let my fur grow..."

Clay looks down at her hands, "That change... It does sort of feel like that moment after a long hike when you can take off your shoes and socks and just relax, unrestrained..." She pockets her phone into her shorts and stands up, "I don't know if I should be okay with that... Or at least, not as okay with that as I feel."

Nithya shrugs with a small smile. "Like a lot of this, I'm not sure it's asking if we are okay with it. Though all signs do kind of point that if we try to work with the changes, with the deer, rather than against them... things go better for us." She touches her hand at Clay's neck: "Case in point."

Clay leans in against Nithya in response to the touch, "I do worry about what we might be losing in this bargain sometimes... but it's a fainter voice compared to what we seemed to have gained in each other." She sighs, "I guess it still worries me though."

Nithya nods as she lightly touches Clay's neck and shoulder, really feeling them without fur. "It worries me too. Like we are... giving up. But then I ask myself, giving up... what, exactly?"

Clay frowns, running a hand along Nithya's back, "Giving up... being human? Sure, we can change like this, but... if we say the deer are the real 'us'..."

Nithya sighs: "It does feel like we're letting the goddess have her way. But..." She frowns, thinking as her hand grasps Clay's free hand: "...I guess it doesn't matter much. Regardless of the way we think about it, we have to spend time as deer and force being human."

Clay 's hand entwines with Nithya's, "Maybe it doesn't... but I swore over and over that I wouldn't let us lose ourselves to this... But I wonder if that's even possible at this point? Maybe it doesn't matter... deer or no, we can't just go live off in the woods alone somewhere."

Nithya nods: "But neither can we completely leave behind the forest critter within us. We have to find a balance... somehow, which I suspect will not be easy."

Clay looks at the park wood around them and nods, "I guess that is going to be the trick... not easy has certainly defined the experience so far. I... I'd ask the goddess to give us a break, but maybe she did, and that's why we were finally able to say the things we said yesterday." She smiles at Nithya, "All still true, by the way, even without the fur, you are deerly beloved."

Nithya blinks, the giggles. "Now, if you somehow lost yourself enough that you didn't pun at inopportune times, then I'd start getting worried." She leans closer, pulling Clay for a quick kiss."Mm."

Clay grins, letting Nithya bring her closer and returning the kiss, "The puns are part of the package, and the goddess can just live with that."

Nithya smirks: "Something tells me she just might." She motions towards the hotel: "Come on. Let's go sleep and cuddle a bit, since it's hours before breakfast anyway."

Clay nods, not letting go of Nithya's hand as they turn to walk out of the forest park. "All of that sounds well worth the price... sleep, snuggling with my girlfriend, and a hotel breakfast?"

Nithya lifts her free hand: "But do note, not at the same time. Hotel breakfast sounds good, hotel breakfast on the bed a lot less."

Clay grins, "Bed plus snuggling, check. Bed plus breakfast, no. Honestly, same rules as before, we're just adding snuggling in. Got it."

Nithya giggles a bit: "I think you got it." She squeezes at Clay's hand a bit. "Pretty thing~."

Clay blushes, squeezing back, "Hah, says you. And... thank you for saying it... but, you're the pretty one."

Nithya smirks: "Doesn't work that way. We're girlfriends, which means we both get to be pretty."

Clay grins wide, clearly liking the sounds of that. "I guess I can deal with that~. I might need some help, of course..."

Nithya hums. "I think Sapporo has a dress shop or two. You know, if we want to look good for a date."

Clay feels her heart leap a bit, "Y-yeah. Yeah, we do. I do. For our date~."

Nithya considers: "...when we get back home, we may want to look up some help with makeup, though. I don't really know any more of that stuff than you do."

Clay nods, "I've only watched a few tutorials and never... uh... never tried it myself. I didn't really have the face for it... but..."

Nithya smirks, then gives Clay a peck on the lips. "You do now~."

Clay laughs, not able to hide her excitement, "I do now~. Yeah." She smirks, "Wonder if we can do makeup as deer too? A bit of hoof polish?"

Nithya blinks, then giggles. "I have no idea how that would work. But now you have the idea in my head, so we probably need to test it eventually."

Clay grins, "I just... think you'd look really cute like that... if the deer are 'us', no reason we can't take a bit of time to make those forms prettier too."

She blushes, "I must sound like such an annoying 'girly girl'..."

Nithya giggles: "More so than say, about three weeks ago, but maybe that's not saying all that much."

Clay shrugs, "Maybe not... I worry where the line is... I don't want to be... too feminine? Or m-maybe I do... I kind of do..."

Nithya shrugs: "You have all the time in the world to find that out, I think. And I'll be there with you all the way."

Clay squeezes Nithya's hand. "I... I'm really excited about exploring... dresses and make-up and just... me."

Nithya squeezes back. "Me too." She gives a soft, quiet sigh as they reach the hotel doors. "All of that."

Clay looks at Nithya with a bit of awe and love as they reach the doors, "I'm looking forward to 'us'."

Nithya smiles as she leads Clay in. "Me too."

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