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The Next Morning.

When the alarm went off Sunday morning, things seemed much better for the two. An actual restful sleep does wonders, making them both feel much better about everything.

Or... nearly everything... something still felt off... something not quite sitting right as the two dressed, ate breakfast, and returned to the room.

Rowan knew that suiting up again was still a new experience, with lots of uncertainties... surely that was the reason for the discomfort, for the awkward feelings and general sense that something was 'off'. This whole weekend had been off, so much crazier than expected.

He stepped back into their room after breakfast, taking a deep breath, "Okay... guess we can't quite put it off any longer..." He looks over to the table, picking up his carefully placed fursuit and taking it over to his bed.

Jacinto slept deeply, but also woke up with a lot of confusing imagery in his head, the kind that takes a few moments to clear up before one realizes it's all a dream.

Except the magic of this weekend clearly has not been a dream.

After breakfast, his moodly slowly improved, maybe because of getting to put Cindi back on, maybe just because today would probably give some answers and direction about what to do next.

He gives a lopsided smile as he sits down next to the fursuit that's become considerably more 'one piece', just the head being separate anymore and all electronics and extra supports gone, not that he exactly needs them anymore. "Yeah. We... we want to do this, right? Find some clarity, and... maybe just enjoy this once more if we can."

Rowan examines the suit, raising an eyebrow at the lighter suit, no padding, no wiring, "I didn't even notice the costume had changed..." He says distractedly before raising his head towards Jac', "Err... yeah. Yeah, for answers, right? Maybe to just enjoy the feeling while we can? If things go well enough, anyways."

Jacinto nods, seeing at the differences in the costume, which would be inpractical to wear if... if there wasn't definite magic involved and they were actually doing costuming anymore. "Just, you know... perspective from others who have had the same thing happen." They didn't see others besides Rowena yesterday, but very much have gotten the image that there are others at the con today. "I figure... it helps spotting others when we know to look for pendants, and our senses are just so... different, in suit. As Akari, as Cindi, er..."

He pauses, frowning as he picks up the costume and starts getting ready. "...what would you even call this? It both is and isn't fursuiting anymore..."

Rowan frowns, considering, "I don't know what else to call it at this point... fur-changing?"

He shakes his head, unfolding the suit to examine it. All the sewing seams hidden beneath the fur are gone as well, with the only evidence of construction is the zipper in the back. "We definitely didn't know what to look for... and Rowena mentioned the whole 'bubble' thing. If they didn't stop and come close, it sounds like it would have been impossible to spot them without knowing about the pendants."

Jacinto nods as he picks up the suit from the back, a very neat zipper running from the neck to near the tail, that he is rather certain will vanish once the magic takes hold. "I am uncertain of this, but I have a theory that... if we spend more fur-changing, or whatever the term for it is, we get... more used to Cindi and Akari's senses... I'm pretty sure those are better than our human ones, at least all our headcanon and experience points that way."

He takes a deep breath. Stalling again.

Rowan frowns at that thought, "I don't want to get too used to being Akari... that's sorta what I'm afraid of."

Jacinto nods: "I know. It's just a theory, anyway." He looks at the suit in his hands. "Let's... l-let's do this, shall we?"

Rowan nods. "Y-yeah. Nervous as I am, I still... I still want to at least try this one more time." He takes a deep breath, then lifts up the fursuit, staring into it before he begins to slip on the legs.

Jacinto does so as well, focusing his mind elsewhere. Sort of, anyway.

"...this feels eerily smooth and comfortable. Guess something happened to the foam in the undersuit, somehow..."

Rowan nods, pulling the body of the fursuit up. "No more supports for the tail, no more... no more gloves? I swear I remember taking the gloves off last night, but they're just attache dnow?"

Jacinto blinks: "Oh, umm..." He looks at the gloves, or where the gloves were, but there's no attachment point anymore. "Guess it's just... slip in, kind of. Dang." He's uncertain how to feel about the magic changing what he's constructed, but can't deny the efficiency of it when taking the costume apart the clean it is not exactly a big concern...

He does exactly that, getting into the suit limb by limb, and he swears he can feel the suit getting more alive as he does, Cindi's tail perking upwards as he stands up in the suit. "This isn't creepy at all."

Rowan blinks as a similar sensation creeps over his body, "It's... like second skin, almost. It really does feel almost alive." He shudders a little bit. "...we still going through with this?"

Jacinto hesitates for the briefest of seconds, but then nods. "In for a penny..." He manages to zip up the suit for himself, then picks up Cindi's head. He can't deny how damn good wearing the bodysuit, that's about to not be a bodysuit, feels.

He takes a deep breath. "See you on the other side." With that, he puts the headpiece on.

Rowan watches Jacinto complete the suit, feeling a weird pang of jealousy at seeing Cindy come to life again. Though, a feeling easily remedied...

He reaches back to zip up his own suit, then nods to Jacinto, "Once more into the breach, indeed."

He lifts Akari's head from the bed, smiling faintly at the excited expression on her face, then puts on the headpiece.

Jacinto... Cindi... well, really, it's both of them, opens her eyes with several rapid blinks. She lets out a bit of a sigh. "D-damn that's a rush." She stretches a bit, tail bending upwards and wings fluttering: "Mm!"

Rowan similar feels a rush of new senses all opening up at once opening Akari's eyes to blink a few times, lifting her hooved hands to study them, wiggling the fingers as if to simply prove they still work. "Y-yeah... um, wow. Just that easy, huh? Still... still seems almost too easy... but oh gosh this feeling..."

She hums a bit as she just lets the sensations of 'being Akari' wash over her, "Can't believe this is me."

Cindi nods, flexing her arms behind her a bit. "It feels like..." She frowns mid-stretch, expression confused (and pretty cute). "Well..." She lowers her arms and gives her friend a look. "...darn impossible to describe. Like, I'm me, but... definitely also not the me I'm used to."

Rowan rolls his... her shoulders. "Yeah... I get the feeling. There's me, and there's Akari, and we're... I mean, I'm still here, right? This is just me, Rowan... And you're still Jac' foremost of all, right?"

Cindi blinks, then nods. "Yeah. I am." She frowns: "Pretty sure I am. There's Cindi's... feel, in here as well, and it's hard to not... it's tricky telling if there's difference. Or there is, but..." She trails off and shrugs.

"In a lot of ways, Cindi is me, although I am not usually a fluffy canine. But besides that." She then blinks again and facepalms: "...and none of that made a lick of sense."

Rowan sighs, not entirely comfortable with that answer, and how much he feels the same way, "No more than it did before... no. But... I guess we can go try and see if Audie can help with that?"

Cindi... Jacinto nods with a smile: "I'm sure we can find people more experienced than we are." She grabs few of the essentials in a small bag and lifts it to her shoulder, then steps towards the door. "Here goes nothing. Again."

Rowan ensures she's got her own supplies, then nods, giving a genuine smile, "Well, lead on..." She reaches out a hand towards Cindy's.

Jacinto does what Cindi would do, and takes her friend's hand in hers with a smile. "Let's go." She leads the way into the hallway, confidence and dread and excitement and nerves all somehow simultaneously rising as she does.

Akari lets Cindi take the lead, holding hands with her as they make their way back to the convention center once again., making their way through the crowds to enter into the Vendor hall. Inside is the usual mix of people, fursuits, vendors, and noise, and their target's booth is mixed somewhere into the center of it all, not quite 'out of the way' but deep enough in the aisles that it really has to be a 'destination' else it's likely just a booth they would have walked past. A small banner labeled 'Fab-Wolf Trinkets and Crafting' hangs from the front of two long vendor tables. One is covered with jewelry, trinkets, plush paws, tails, ear headbands, and more. The other has bigger fursuit pieces, most labeled 'not for sale' with details for custom work and commissions. Less fur-suit centric dresses and cosplay outfits hang from a z-rack behind the booth. Inside, two woman are sitting tiredly, manning their booth for the last day of the con. One is sitting behind the trinket booth wearing an ornate leather chestpiece, her hair dyed a bright white. The other is standing at the costume rack wearing an ornate shrine-maiden robe, bright red with a white top, with a few fluffy tails poking out from behind the dress and a hand-painted Kitsune mask over her face.

Cindi feels more confident now, somehow being in the middle of all these crowds and none of them being wiser about their true nature gives a rising feeling of giddiness that mostly erases the fear. When they get closer to the booth, she glances at Akari: "So, here we are. How do we... approach this, assuming she doesn't just recognize us in some way?"

Akari has slipped more into character as they've walked through the con, just enjoying the experience this time without the dread of being trapped, keeping her hoof in Cindi's paw for support. She's a little more nervous as they approach the booth though, "I... I don't know. Maybe just walk up and... hope they'll recognize us? I didn't think there'd be two people? We could ask for Audie and say we have an issue with our commission?"

Cindi lets out a chuckle: "To put it lightly." She shakes her head, then leads the way forward towards the booth, smiling even though she's by now somewhat certain no one but those like them can even see her expression change like that. She's uncertain what this encounter will bring, but determined to see this through now.

Akari follows behind, feeling more than a little shy in talking to folks, for more than a few reasons like this.

At the table, the vendor in the armor glances up at the fursuiters with a weary expression, "Oh! Those are fantastic costumes! If there's anything I can help you with, just point it out! We've got some sewing kits and repair materials too if you need anything for upkeep."

As she starts talking, the other vendor tilts her head at the pair, lifting her Kitsune mask from over her face and strolling over, "I suspect these two want to see me. Mind manning the booth a moment?"

"Uh sure Audie, Just don't leave me here too long or I'll start cutting prices. Less inventory means less to carry home."

Audie smirks, stepping around the table towards Cindi, "So you're the two Rowena found, hm? She described your suits to me."

Cindi blinks at being recognized, then reminds herself just how standout their costumes were even before any of this happened. She smiles at Audie: "I am Cindi, and this is Akari. We're... previous customers, as you probably have sussed out if Rowena mentioned us." She looks somewhat embarrassed at this, but doesn't backpedal just yet.

Akari nods, "Rowena said you sent us the charms that um... did this?"

Audie laughes quietly, "I did. I know your names, or at least the names you used to commission me. I'm sorry I'm meeting you like this, I can only just make out things. If I were myself, I'd be in the bubble right now, but I've spent enough time crafting those tokens that a little bit of it rubbed off."

She pauses to think, "We can probably talk here just fine, though, if you're more comfortable talking in private, there's a vendor break room just over there that probably won't be busy."

Cindi hums, glancing around at the last-day crowds. "It's... maybe better if we talk where it's less busy. I hope you understand, this is still... all kinds of new and embarrassing for us." She blushes a bit as she speaks. "Figuring all this out, if you can help us."

Audie nods, "I've heard that a lot. I'm afraid a lot of it is on you now, but I can certainly answer your questions, just this way." She points down the aisle and leads the two towards a side hallway with restrooms, and a little further down an innocuous white door. Without anyone guarding it, Audie shrugs and opens it up, revealing a meager break room with a few empty bowls that once contained free snacks, and a vending machine in the corner. The room looks a little lackluster, and probably hasn't seen much use as a result.

Akari follows the pair, and lingers behind just a moment to shut the door behind them, breathing a sigh of relief, She glances at Cindi, tapping her hooves together, "W-Why you picked us, for one..."

Cindi nods in agreement as she returns Akari's look. "Yeah. We're just not sure... why." She gives Audie a hopeful look of sorts, which as usual looks almost unbearably cute.

Audie takes a seat at one of the tables, "Well... it's only half my choice, to be honest. We've gotten it down to a whole process, really. Based on your suiting history, the e-mails we exchanged, and what we learned once your names were on the table. We all thought you'd accept our Gift."

She chuckles, shaking her head, "Not everyone does, but we try to only pick the right people. But once we have our list, the final decision really comes down to who I think those charms were made for. I sit down and start crafting, and when the charms are done, I tend to know exactly who they're supposed to go to. I always say our uh, 'patron' makes the final call. Though that probably doesn't exactly help answer your question."

Akari's ears drop a little, "Only kind of... it really doesn't explain 'why us' other than... because you thought maybe we'd appreciate it?"

Cindi hums, considering this. She harrumphs. "Not that I do not on some level... consider this a dream come true of sorts, some forewarning would have been nice."

She can't bring herself to be all the miffed, though. Instead she focuses on another note: "So... I imagine just not giving the Gifts at all is not really an option?"

Audie glances away with a bit of pain on her face, "Well, we tried telling someone ahead of time, and the charms didn't work. I still don't know if that was because of them, or because of me telling them. But after that..."

"As for... giving the gifts or not, there's some degree to I feel like I'm not fully in control when I'm crafting the charms... but I guess maybe I've talked myself into thinking I'm doing more good than harm? Was this all really that bad for you two?" She leans forward, a look of genuine concern on her face.

Akari wrinkles her snout. "It... was certainly a challenge. M-maybe not... not 'all' bad. I don't know if it's a dream come true for me, but it does make me feel happy."

Cindi nods, sighing a bit as she glances at Akari before turning back to Audie. "It has given us a lot to think about. And... I suppose I can understand doing your best with what you have been given. I probably... would not be able to do much better." She gives a definitely very Cindi kind of hopeful smile.

Audie smiles back, "I can at least explain a little about how this works. I mean, this little community predates me, but I've been a member for awhile now. Crafters are rare, and honestly I have no idea how I really do it. I'm basically making a little empty vessel of potential. Then, it's up to you two to fill them with your intentions, your love and sweat to make something unique and special to you. Most folks in the group, their suits are something undeniably positive in their lives, and I think for the most part, the magic only really works with those kinds of feelings. I've certainly heard the 'dream come true' line quite a bit."

Akari blinks, trying to take it all in. The explanation of magic even stranger than the explanation of the conclave itself. "You've tried to do this with other things?"

Audie nods with a shrug, "Just out of idle curiosity. Weirdly, it seems to only really work with fursuits. If that's just because they're exactly the right combination of work and emotion and thought, or because the deity behind this all just wants to keep it that way, I can't say."

Cindi listens with curiosity. "Huh. That's... so strange and so specific, yet as I stand here having considerably more white fur than I did just earlier this week, it makes sense on some level. If some sort of... higher whatever is behind this, suppose they would have a design to it, however nonsensical it seems to us."

She pauses, then lifts a paw in a sort of defeated half-shrug. "Either that, or they're laughing their divine ass off as we try to figure this out. Moot point either way. This seems to be what we get, and..." She looks at Akari: "...suppose it is up to us what we make of it."

Akari gives Cindi a smile, "Y-yeah. I want to make something good out of it? I... I seriously considered running from it all, but, it's too much. We put in too much work to throw it all away!"

Audie smiles softly, giving the two their moment.

Cindi nods as she smiles at her friend. "We put a completely insane amount of work into these, and in some way..." She glances at Audie: "...suppose it paid off even more than we thought it would, certainly in way we did not expect."

Audie has the decency to glance down, "For what it's worth, I really do apologize for the... method of delivery. Our scouts usually manage to find new folks in the con first day to avoid the panic. Rowena was beside herself Friday night."

Akari does straighten up a bit as Cindi talks up their work, Rowan's pride in his work shining through.

Cindi gives a soft sigh at Audie's words. "It... I want to be a bit miffed about that, but I can not bring myself to it. Maybe it is the character side talking..."

She blinks, snapping a finger, though with her paws it doesn't make much of a sound. "Oh! That reminds me of one thing that's sorta bothered us. How do people usually experience the whole... 'you become more like your fursona' thing with this? How do they deal?"

Akari's expression drops into one of deep concern as she turns back to look at Audie.

Audie sits back in the plastic chair, taking a deep breath, "Hoo... yeah. Well. Everyone has their own experiences with that. It's not really 'becoming more like your fursona'... well, not entirely."

She shifts forward again, "So, what we've found is that when you're in the suit, in the character, it will 'nudge' you towards character behaviors. If your character is easily excitable, you might be more easily excitable. Little gestures that you might imagine your character making come out without thinking, like cats raising paws up." She lifts a hand to make a cat-like paw gesture.

"It's all part of the costume's magic... little influences, and if you're already acting in character like you would with a normal fursuit, then those nudges don't seem so unusual, and you just sort of accept it. They only last while you're wearing the suit of course."

"But... there can be a little bit of bleed over into your normal life. But... that's not the suit. And, I can't stress this enough... that's you. It might be hard to accept... but it's the best advice I can give you. If there's some behavior you find yourself bringing over from the character, you might need to sit down and really think about it. You are always in control. The real you. But... that's all I'll say about that. You have to decide who you are. In, and out of the suit."

Cindi listens and takes it all in. Some part of her had maybe wanted some easy magic solution to this, but most of her really expected something along these lines. "So... yeah. That's a lot to think about, but... perhaps the takeaway is that it is up to us to figure out. Whatever we felt like is an outside influence... is not, really."

She frowns, lifting a paw to her chin: "So... me being more excitable when in... in this form, while that is who I always have been as Cindi, it's also... just me, now." The paw moves to her temple: "Woof."

Akari slumps her shoulders a little, ears drooping, "That... I... o-oh..." She glances at Cindi, still holding her other paw.

Audie frowns, "That's... big news. I'm sorry if it just makes things more complicated. But my point works both ways. You have more control than you might be thinking. You're more excitable because you think your character is. But you don't have to be. It... takes some getting used to, trust me. My first suit is a wolf, and it's really not terribly appropriate to howl at the moon in the middle of a hotel block of a convention. So... even if she would do that, I don't."

Cindi blinks, then laughs softly. "Yeah, uh... I can see that. Maybe good I am a dog, then..." She hums, her mind whirring on the issue: "So it's just... a lot of small things, that can feel like they build up to something impossible if we let them." She squeezes Akari's hand: "A solvable problem. I like that."

Akari squeezes back, feeling a little less certain, but her heart swells at Cindi's affirmation. But... that's just in character? Right? "Y-yeah. We can figure it out. It's not... 'overwriting' us or um... or our characters 'taking over' or anything like that..."

Audie blinks, "Oh. Oh no, not at all. No one in the Conclave has ever reported anything like that. Your friend has it right. A lot of little things that feel big all together. But they're not. And not to promote our Discord or anything, but we've got a lot of folks in there who can and will help."

Cindi nods, her hand holding Akari's tightly, feeling a little better about making Akari feel better.

She smiles: "I did lurk on the Discord for a few moments last night, but did not really have the heart to read for long or make introductions. But... it would probably do good to discuss this with others who have, for obvious reasons, gone through a lot of the same stuff."

She silently wonders if she should be Cindi while doing that too, to try and keep that optimism going...

Akari swallows, "I uh... I didn't join yet. I wasn't even sure I was ever going to do this again until last night. But.. um... I do feel different now, I think."

Audie holds up a hand, "No pressure! It's a big group, but there's regional channels, and we try to respect everyone's boundaries. I think we all know better than most people that we can be very different people in public than we are in private." She smirks.

Cindi laughs softly at that, lightly shaking her head. "That much is very true. I..." She hesitates, looking at Akari, before nodding at Audie. "...I am uncertain if I should thank you about the charms just yet, but... at the very least, thank you for helping us now. I feel better about this, even if I am uncertain if I like it overall, if that makes sense."

Audie nods, "Like I said, I'm sorry about how things started rough for you two. Even a bit rougher than most members."

Akari manages a small, "I... I think I'm alright with that part. I just have to figure out the rest of it, but... yeah, thank you for your help, um, Ms Audie."

Cindi squeezes Akari's hand again, smiling at her. "We have a lot to talk about." She gives Audie a nod: "I am sure we will talk again sometime."

Akari turns to face Cindi, unable to hold back a grin as she reaches out her other hand to hold Cindi's paw between hers. "Y-yeah. I'm sure we'll be in touch."

Audie stands up, then carefully pulls the fake kitsune tails back into place. "Then I'll head back my booth. Feel free to reach out to me if you need anything. I probably owe you a bit of something as an apology, but otherwise good luck, have fun, and welcome to the RFC."

Cindi nods at Audie with a smile. "See you around."

She then turns to Akari, motioning with her head, antennae swaying: "We have some hours left of the con. Shall we?"

Akari watches Audie head back out, then grins wide at Cindi, "Yes! I mean, uh, yes. A sensible, well thought-out yes." She gives Cindi a tight hug.

Cindi giggles into the hug: "Very sensible." She whispers with amusement as she's close to her friend: "All the RFC nonsense aside, I remind you just how much we've paid for this weekend. Let's make the most of what we have left."

Akari swallows, "Don't remind me... I feel like we lost so much time to actually just enjoy the con... let's go have fun, Cindi~."

Cindi gives Akari's cheek the briefest of side-nuzzles before letting go of the hug. She takes Akari's hand in hers: "Let's do exactly that. After all, most of this con has no idea about any of this stuff, so we can just forget about it for a while too."

Akari blushes a touch, but nods excitedly, "That does sound like a pretty good idea. We can put all the worries aside for the moment... thank you."

Cindi leads the way back to the convention proper. "Cindi and Akari are here to conquer this con... well for a few hours anyway." She blinks as they step close to the door: "Oh and dangit. It's actually gonna be hard to not talk all the time."

Akari giggles, lowering her voice, "Harder for you, maybe. Gosh I already don't like talking to strangers. But um, y-yeah! Get ready Con. To be... conquered?" She makes a very timid threat, then breaks into another giggle.

Cindi nods, just opting to grin a bit as she leads them to the con floor proper again.

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