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The Next Day.

Rowan drives, the Jeep he bought pretty much solely so they'd have room to tote all their cosplay gear is gassed up, and after a melancholy morning checking out of the hotel, he and Jacinto hit the road.

The difficult driving was all in getting out of Philadelphia, but once they had reached the highway, the drive became much smoother, and Rowan finally relaxed a little, easing back in his seat.

He chuckles quietly, finally breaking the silence now that he has some room on the road, "We definitely made the right choice... I have no idea how Akari would have even properly used the pedals, let alone steer."

Jacinto has been very much inside his head all morning, after last night's... everything, just feeling like things need be sorted but way uncertain as to how.

He sort of wakes up when Rowan breaks the silence, and after taking a moment to grok what he even said, smiles. "Yeah... Cindi may have had slightly better odds, though I can only imagine the amount her, er, my paws would be slipping on both the pedals and the wheel."

Rowan laughs, "Hooves and paws were not made for driving, no. Especially not city driving."

He lets that moment linger a little, then his tone gets a little deeper, "Dare I ask how you're feeling this morning? I think we've both had our own struggles getting up and out today."

Jacinto hesitates, but can't really summon the energy to sugarcoat the truth. "Just... all over the place. One moment I'm excited about the grandest adventure of my life that's just started, another I'm afraid of just how I felt when I... when I as Cindi touched my chest and... there was something there. That... scared me."

Rowan purses his lips as he listens, keeping his eyes on the road, "...yeah. Just one big shock after another... Part of me is relieved the whole weekend is over, just so we don't have anything else happen to us, good or bad. I'm... Still processing it all. 'Scared' is definitely there, but... There's too much else in the way to let it get too bad?"

Jacinto looks at Rowan, then nods. "Yeah. If it was just being afraid of this, of... being female for a bit every now and then, then yeah... I'd start thinking twice." He takes a deep breath and smiles. "But it's not. It's something amazing as well, it's a kind of new avenue in life we never thought possible, it's a whole dang secret society, a darn exclusive club we are now part of..."

He is quiet for a second before continue, voice lower. "It's... Cindi's friendship with Akari."

Rowan's smile slowly grows too. Kinda no down sides when you put it like that. For all the weirdness and... and the rest."

His smile fades slightly as he considers Jac's words. "What Cindi and Akari have is pretty special..."

Jacinto nods. "When... when I am Cindi, when I have been Cindi this weekend... being near Akari, being near you... it has felt really good. It's hard to explain now that I am not in fur, but..." He trails off, looking a bit embarrassed at the admission.

Rowan slowly sighs, "No, no, I felt it too. I mean, Friday night, when we were still stuck... I..."

He swallows, "Akari... She wanted to hug Cindi so tight, and it broke her heart that we slept apart that night. I- ah, jeez... Yeah. So, I get it."

Jacinto looks at Rowan with slight surprise: "Oh. You... I mean Akari, I guess, wanted..." He thinks for a moment. "I think... if I let myself be Cindi... that would be a thing again. She would too, I mean."

Rowan sighs, looking extremely embarrassed, "Just to snuggle, nothing... You know. But that's a bad idea for us anyways."

Jacinto nods. "Yeah. It's just... we have shipped CIndi and Akari in various stories. That's all it is." He doesn't sound entirely convinced of this, though.

Rowan nods, "I know, yeah. It does... Just make it a little awkward. But it's not like we'll ever end up stuck as our furselves overnight together, so no need to worry about that coming up again."

Jacinto starts to nod, then gives a soft chuckle. "That sounds like tempting fate, Rowan. But I hope you are right." He looks out the window the other way: "As long as we are careful, nothing of the sort should happen again. Audie was pretty clear that we can't 'lose' ourselves to our characters, or anything."

Rowan hums, "It's not tempting fate... It's, yeah self-control. We didn't know how to deal with any of it that first night. Even if it happens again, we'll have better control."

Jacinto nods, glancing back at his friend. "Definitely. The more we know about how our furselves work... the better we can rein in any 'character features', so to say, that we don't want."

He stops himself from elaborating what those features might be.

Rowan taps his hands on the steering wheel a moment before answering, "Yeah... Yeah, I mean, holding hands and such is all fine right? That's just in character performance."

Jacinto nods: "And hugging. Even if it kind of feels better now. Warmer. Softer." He lets out a small sigh before he can stop himself - and realizes he wants to hug Akari, as Cindi, again.

Rowan laughs, "Oh, and hugs of course, yeah... Yeah..." He trails off as he realizes just how much he felt during those hugs, the love between the two characters. He glances at Jac' when he sighs, then eyes back to the road.

Jacinto is quiet for a moment before speaking again, quietly. "...I guess neither of us exactly minds that we hug so much in-character... in-fur." He doesn't look up, but there is a tiny wistful smile on his lips.

Rowan shrugs, "No, not... Really. I don't mind it. We hugged in our older suits too."

Jacinto nods. "Yeah. We did." He pauses. "... Is it any different now?"

Rowan thinks for a moment, then shakes his head, "I guess not, no. It just feels... A lot more. Ha. Sorta the everything about this experience. It all felt so much More."

Jacinto gives a soft chuckle. "Yeah. That is a good way to put it. It's like... fursuiting two-point-oh." He laughs a bit: "The super advanced take."

Rowan snorts out a laugh, "All that practice Fursuiting finally unlocked Fursuiting Plus. I like it."

Jacinto hums in amusement: "I'm not sure if it would catch on. Well, besides the ones who have already found it. Like us." He shakes his head: "Crazy, but maybe the good kind of crazy."

Rowan laughs, trailing off slightly, "Maybe that's what Rowena meant by calling it a gift, eh? It's like the reward for an achievement... Only people who work for it earn it. They're just trying to spot people who earned that achievement... Am I game-ifying this too much?" He chuckles.

Jacinto shrugs: "Maybe a bit, but you still got the gist of it, far as I understand." He considers: "Though really, I can see why. Imagine just trying a costume once after a bet or something, and this sort of thing happens."

Rowan shivers, "I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone, no." He taps the wheel again, thinking. "...we were frighteningly well equipped for this experience, come to think about it."

Jacinto blinks, then actually considers the point: "...yeah, in some ways, definitely."

Rowan glances up to the roof of the car a moment, then checks his mirrors, "I kind of wonder how things would have gone if Rowena had found us on Friday. Without all that fear building up... But, yeah. Other than that, maybe that's the criteria they kept talking about. Folks who can actually handle it? Who actually ah... Well, want it, at the end of the day."

Jacinto nods, glancing down before looking back up at his friend: "...like us. Because let us be perfectly honest here, spending that much money, time and effort... it does come with some degree of wishful thinking as well. Before all this happened, there definitely was some part of me that wanted Cindi to be real."

Rowan nods slowly, "Well... Yeah. Yeah... I've had those thoughts too... Definitely."

He takes his hand from the wheel to massage his forehead and sigh, "I am going to reread all my email history with Audie when I get home too. I'm curious now what I might have said to her..."

Jacinto nods: "Yeah... I might toss Rowena some messages as well, and just generally get to talking." He gives an amused smirk: "There is definitely a side of me that just wants to dig into figuring out everything about this new furry side of things."

Rowan laughs, taking hold of the wheel again, "That does sound like you, yes. I'm... Content just hearing about it from you, for now. I can't really deny that if someone had asked me about this beforehand, had I believed it was a real thing... i would have said yes."

Jacinto nods: "Pretty much. This all coming without forewarning is a bit iffy, but if it doesn't work knowingly, working off of the passion and love for the hobby... it is what it is."

Rowan hums, "Well if someone HAD asked me beforehand, I definitely wouldn't have believed them... So maybe Audie had a point about that."

Jacinto chuckles softly: "There is also that."

He muses for a moment: "So much to find out... but I think just safely and privately figuring out our, er..." He pauses, then shrugs: "...new bodies, because that's what they kind of are now... should be enlightening."

Rowan spares a glance at Jac', "Well not... 'our' bodies. It's the suits... Akari's body." He frowns, "It's different from mine. That's... That's just how I need to approach all of this."

Jacinto gives Rowan a look: "But... when we put the suits on, such as they are... it's our bodies that change."

Rowan shakes his head, "I don't... But it's still Different, right? It's not our bodies, it's-ugh, I don't know." It's clear this line of thinking bothers him more than a little.

Jacinto frowns, but opts to drop it. "I guess time will tell. Really, actually, that's something I want to ask others in the RFC. How do they deal with this? I would imagine someone who's been at this for longer than a weekend has a clue or two..."

Rowan slowly settles back, "Y-yeah... Would be nice to get some life advice for this."

Jacinto nods: "I know when I'm out of my depth. Costume stuff I can handle, but this is way beyond that now." He looks at his hand, imagining Cindi's paw: "...just like, starting from simple stuff like having one less finger when I'm Cindi..."

Rowan glances at his hands, holding the steering wheel, "Or two less as Akari. Yeah. Though, I do sort of seem to know how to use them just fine when I'm... When she's out."

Jacinto nods again: "Yeah. It just comes naturally, I guess." He hums. "Which, really, by itself sounds weird to say. But honestly I really need to just re-evaluate my standards of weird at this point."

Rowan: "Well, it's not headcanon or anything, but, there's just some assumptions, right?" Rowan thinks for a moment, "They understand how to use their hands, tails, antenna, all of that, cause they've had them their whole life."

Jacinto: "Yeah, you're not wrong. When we first changed, I just... Knew...." Jacinto hums. "I have antennae, and just know how to feel stuff with them. How kooky is that?"

Rowan grins, "Akari did know how to make her gems glow too. So, not that kooky if you're asking me. Not sure I'd solicit an opinion outside this car though."

Jacinto lets out an amused snort: "Yeah I don't think I should ask my coworkers. I'd find myself in some institution by the end of the week. People who work in paperwork and permissions and contracts have no sense of humor. I'm just some exception."

Rowan gives out a semi-dramatic sigh, "Working in Tech probably has more furries than most industries but none that are open about it where I work. Plus this all is something else..."

Jacinto winces: "Yeah. Even if I knew I could talk about fursuiting to coworkers... still couldn't talk about this." He considers. "So... online resources, local meets, and most importantly we gotta keep each other sane."

Rowan laughs, "We made it through this weekend together. Not sure much of anything could drive our friendship apart now."

Jacinto smiles: "Yeah. You got that right." He looks at his arm. "It's crazy, but maybe just a testament to how good stuff felt... there is a part of me that already misses the fur. Maybe that is what Rowena was talking about, taking every chance she could."

Rowan's laugh fades, "I... I don't know about that, Jac'. I mean... it did feel really good but..." He trails off again, unsure if he has an argument, other than the fact that he wants to deny how good it felt.

Jacinto nods: "It does sound crazy. I shouldn't want that back. And mostly I'm somewhere in between." He sighs. "I don't know. We'll see how we feel after few days of mundane, blessed nothing at work and such."

Rowan sighs, "It does. It does, but... ahh... shit, Jac'... I don't know either. I think... a few days away from it is a must now, just... just to get some distance from that."

Jacinto sighs. "Yeah, pretty much. We don't want to get entirely sucked into this all. Even if our hobby just got all kinds of different and exciting in a hurry."

Rowan nods, "That's my worry too... getting sucked into it. I just want to take this slow to make sure... well, something. At the very least that I have this all straight in my own head."

Jacinto nods: "Yeah, gonna take some figuring out, that. There's just... what can, or can't I do, with this. What others have done. That sort of thing. But-" He stops himself: "...later. Definitely later."

Rowan shakes his head, "I keep going back and forth... I'm pretty committed at this point, but then I wonder if it's really such a good idea to get tied into this at all... it feels dangerous somehow, but I also know Akari, and I know she's only dangerous if someone threatens her friends. And debatable if she could even do any of that kind of stuff like this."

Jacinto nods: "Another thing to find out I guess. Can we actually... do like half the stuff we've written our characters being able to?" He blinks and sighs: "And yet another thing to read about cause I'm sure we're not alone. Woo going in circles, but at least our travel home isn't."

Rowan sighs, "We better not be..." He waits a moment to check the next exit sign, then breathes a sigh of relief, "Well, not so far at least. I... I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so contrary about this with you... It just scares me. Being Akari just... it feels way too good for me to just leap back into that without at least stopping myself to make sure everything is all right. I... feel like I'm holding you back from enjoying it all, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

Jacinto hums: "Well, since you're indirectly asking me, I will call it a good thing." He turns to look at his friend: "As usual, I am willing to go off the deep end a bit too easily I think."

Rowan gives Jac' a small smirk, "Just a little... maybe I'm just coming at it from the other side just to play devil's advocate. I... I'm like, ninety-five percent sure I want to keep going with this. But that last five percent can be very loud."

Jacinto nods: "Yeah, I can see that. I'm kinda very certain I want to keep going, just unsure as to how... but you know me, my brain don't let things be if I like them."

Rowan looks back to the road and laughs quietly, "Yeah... at the very least, I know you'll leave no stone unturned. Just keep me informed, and let me know if there's anything I can help with. When I'm not driving, of course."

Jacinto smirks: "Nah I'm gonna start digging for the 'suits while we're driving of course. That should be safe."

Rowan laughs, "Well, good luck with it. Cindi can tell me how she likes my driving."

Jacinto laughs, feeling once more a bit better about this whole deal.

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